HelixWings enables AI-driven enzyme engineering for biomimetic cofactor utilization

Biomimetic nicotinamide cofactors, such as nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMNH), can substantially reduce synthesis costs compared with natural cofactors like nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). However, natural enzymes generally exhibit poor activity with these alternative cofactors. Existing engineering approaches, including directed evolution and rational design, remain limited by experimental uncertainty or computational complexity. Here, we developed HelixWings, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven screening platform that integrates conformational dynamics analysis with static microenvironment analysis to identify enzyme variants compatible with biomimetic cofactors. Applied to P450BM3, a widely used biocatalyst for chiral synthesis and pharmaceutical precursor production, HelixWings identified a variant with a 404% improvement in catalytic efficiency toward cytochrome c under NMNH-supported conditions. The platform was further validated with CYP116B46, achieving a 217% improvement in NMNH utilization efficiency. HelixWings reduced screening time by 23-fold compared with rational design.