Enhancing the Photocatalytic Conversion of Pt(IV) Substrates by Flavoprotein Engineering

Our recent work demonstrates that certain flavoproteins can catalyze the redox activation of Pt(IV) prodrug complexes under light irradiation. Herein, we used site-directed mutagenesis on the mini singlet oxygen generator (mSOG) to modulate the photocatalytic activity of this flavoprotein toward two model Pt(IV) substrates. Among the prepared mutants, Q103V mSOG displayed enhanced catalytic efficiency as a result of its longer triplet excited-state lifetime. This study shows, for the first time, that protein engineering can improve the catalytic capacity of a protein toward metal-containing substrates.