Microbial 1(2)-dehydrogenation of 3-ketosteroids is an important basis for the production of many steroid pharmaceuticals and synthons. When using the wild-type strains for whole cell catalysis, the undesirable reduction of the 20-carbonyl group, or 1(2)-hydrogenation, was observed. In this work, the recombinant strains of Mycolicibacterium neoaurum and Mycolicibacterium smegmatis were constructed with blocked endogenous activity of 3-ketosteroid-9α-hydroxylase, 3-ketosteroid-1(2)-dehydrogenase (3-KSD), and expressing 3-KSD encoded by the gene KR76_27125 (kstD2NS) from Nocardioides simplex VKM Ac-2033D. The in vivo activity of the obtained recombinant strains against phytosterol, 6α-methyl-hydrocortisone, and hydrocortisone was studied. When using M. smegmatis as the host strain, the 1(2)-dehydrogenation activity of the constructed recombinant cells towards hydrocortisone was noticeably higher compared to those on the platform of M. neoaurum. A comparison of the strengths of inducible acetamidase and constitutive hsp60 promoters in M. smegmatis provided comparable results. Hydrocortisone biotransformation by M. smegmatis BD/pMhsp_k expressing kstD2NS resulted in 95.4% prednisolone yield, and the selectivity preferred that for N. simplex. Mycolicibacteria showed increased hydrocortisone degradation at 35 °C compared to 30 °C. The presence of endogenous steroid catabolism in Mycolicibacterium hosts does not seem to confer an advantage for the functioning of KstD2NS. The results allow for the evaluation of the prospects for the development of simple technological methods for the selective 1(2)-dehydrogenation of 3-ketosteroids by growing bacterial cells.
Keywords: 3-ketosteroid-1(2)-dehydrogenase; Mycolicibacterium; biotransformation; hydrocortisone; prednisolone; recombinant strains; steroid.