2-Deoxyribose-5-phosphate aldolase, a remarkably tolerant aldolase towards nucleophile substrates.

We explored a collection of 2-deoxyribose-5-phosphate aldolases (DERAs) from biodiversity for their nucleophile substrate promiscuity. The DERAs were screened using as nucleophiles propanone, propanal, cyclobutanone, cyclopentanone, dihydroxyacetone, and glycolaldehyde with l-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate as an electrophile in aldol addition. A DERA from Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus (DERAArthro) efficiently allowed the synthesis of the corresponding aldol adducts in good yields, displaying complementarity in terms of configuration and substrate specificity with fructose-6-phosphate aldolase, the only previously known aldolase with a large nucleophile tolerance.