MLBKE scientists managed to show that 3-ketosteroid dehydrogenases (KSTD) exhibit universal capabilities of catalysing dehydrogenation of 3-ketosteroids with undegraded C-17 substituent (this long black chain sticking out of the enzyme in the figure below). This was experimentally demonstrated for two different KSTDs from S. denitrificans and KSTD1 from R. erythropolis. As a result, they can be used to modify the structures of more complex steroid drugs, also those already functionalized at C17 position. This is an example where molecular modelling predicted activity which turned out to be true (despite contradictory earlier reports).
The preprint of the paper 'Universal Capability of 3-Ketosteroid Δ1-Dehydrogenases to Catalyze Δ1-Dehydrogenation of C17- Substituted Steroids' is available at Research Square
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