Non-canonical amino acids as a useful synthetic biological tool for lipase-catalysed reactions in hostile environments

The incorporation of several non-canonical amino acids into the Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus lipase confers not only activity enhancement upon treatment with organic solvents (by up to 450%) and surfactants (resp. 1630%), but also protective effects against protein reducing (resp. 140%), alkylating (resp. 160%), and denaturing (resp. 190%) agents as well as inhibitors (resp. 40%). This approach offers novel chemically diversified biocatalysts for hostile environments.