ß-Glucosidase from Streptomyces griseus: Nanoparticle immobilisation and application to alkyl glucoside synthesis.

A novel ß-glucosidase from Streptomyces griseus was cloned and overexpressed in E. coli. The purified ß-glucosidase (44 kDa) had a Km of 8.6 ± 0.5 mM and a Vmax of 217 ± 5.0 µmoles-1min-1mg at 37 °C, pH 7.2 with p-nitrophenyl-ß-D glucopyranoside as substrate. The enzyme was characterised in terms of pH optimum (pH 6.9), temperature optimum (69 °C) and the influence of solvents and effectors. Purified S. griseus ß-glucosidase was successfully immobilised, by simple absorption, onto zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles without covalent modification. It remained tightly bound even after extensive washing and could be reused up to ten times without significant loss of activity. The immobilised enzyme had a higher optimum temperature and greater thermostability than the free enzyme. In immobilised form the enzyme readily catalysed the synthesis of alkyl glucosides.

Aldehyde dehydrogenase activity of Drosophila melanogaster alcohol dehydrogenase: burst kinetics at high pH and aldehyde dismutase activity at physiological pH.

The ability of Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase (D-ADH) to catalyze the oxidation of aldehydes to carboxylic acids has been re-examined. Prior studies are shown to have been compromised by a nonenzymic reaction between the aldehydic substrates and amine-containing buffers, e.g., glycine or Tris, and an amine-catalyzed addition of aldehyde to NAD+. These reactions interfere with spectrophotometric assays for monitoring aldehyde oxidation and obscure the nature and scope of D-ADH-catalyzed aldehyde oxidation, particularly at physiological pH. Use of nonreactive buffers, such as pyrophosphate or phosphate, and 1H NMR spectroscopy to monitor all the components of the reaction mixture reveals the facile dismutation of aldehydes into equimolar quantities of the corresponding acids and alcohols at both neutral and high pH. At high pH, dismutation is accompanied by a small burst of NADH production to a steady-state concentration ( < 10 microM) that represents a partitioning between NADH dissociation and aldehyde reduction. The increase in A340 is therefore not a direct measure of the aldehyde oxidation reaction, and the resulting kinetic values cannot be compared to those for alcohol dehydrogenation. The present results for D-ADH, combined with data from the literature, establish that aldehyde oxidation, manifest as dismutation, is a widespread property of alcohol dehydrogenases with potential physiological importance in alcohol metabolism and aldehyde detoxification.

Purification and crystallization of benzoylformate decarboxylase.

A new large-scale purification method for benzoylformate decarboxylase from Pseudomonas putida has allowed us to undertake an X-ray crystallographic study of the enzyme. The previously observed instability of the enzyme was overcome by addition of 100 microM thiamine pyrophosphate to buffers used in the purification. The final enzyme preparation was more than 97% pure, as determined by denaturing gel electrophoresis and densitometry. The mobility of the enzyme on a gel filtration column indicates that it is a tetramer of 57-kDa subunits. Large, single crystals of benzoylformate decarboxylase were grown from solutions of buffered polyethylene glycol 400, pH 8.5. The crystals diffract to beyond 1.6 A resolution and are stable for days to X-ray radiation. Analysis of X-ray data from the crystals, along with the newly determined quaternary structure, identifies the space group as I222. The unit cell dimensions are a = 82 A, b = 97 A, c = 138 A. An average Vm value for the crystals is consistent with one subunit per asymmetric unit. The subunits of the tetramer must be arranged with tetrahedral 222 symmetry.

The oxidation of aldehydes by horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase.

A lag phase in the spectrophotometric assay progress curve of aldehyde oxidation by HL-ADH was observed and characterised. The aldehyde oxidation and aldehyde dismutation reactions were shown to be related, and a mechanism to explain net aldehyde oxidation was proposed. The spectrophotometric assay was shown to be unsuitable for measurement of kinetic parameters for aldehyde oxidation by HL-ADH, and kinetic constants previously determined were shown to be in error. Existing data on the aldehyde dismutation reaction are insufficient to discount a role for HL-ADH in aldehyde transformation in vivo.

Horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase-catalyzed oxidation of aldehydes: dismutation precedes net production of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide.

The oxidation of aldehydes by horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (HL-ADH) is more complex than previously recognized. At low enzyme concentrations and/or high aldehyde concentrations, a pronounced lag in the assay progress curve is observed when the reaction is monitored for NADH production at 340 nm. When the progress of the reaction is followed by 1H NMR spectroscopy, rapid dismutation of the aldehyde substrate into the corresponding acid and alcohol is observed during the lag phase. Steady-state production of NADH commences only after aldehyde concentrations drop below 5% of their initial value; thereafter, NADH production occurs with continuous adjustment of the equilibrium between aldehyde, alcohol, NADH, and NAD+. The steady-state NADH production exhibits normal Michaelis-Menten kinetics and is in accord with earlier studies using much higher enzyme concentrations where no lag phase was reported. These results establish that the ability of HL-ADH to oxidize aldehydes is much greater than previously thought. The relationship between aldehyde dismutase and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities of HL-ADH is discussed.

Steady-state kinetic analysis of aldehyde dehydrogenase from human erythrocytes.

The steady-state kinetics of purified cytoplasmic aldehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.3) from human erythrocytes have been studied at 37 degrees C. Previous studies of the enzyme from several mammalian sources, which used a lower assay temperature, have been difficult to interpret because of the substrate activation by acetaldehyde which led to complex kinetic behaviour. At 37 degrees C the initial-rate data do not depart significantly from Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Studies of the variation of initial rates as a function of the concentrations of both substrates and studies of the inhibition by NADH were consistent with a sequential mechanism being followed. High-substrate inhibition by acetaldehyde was competitive with respect to NAD+. The enzyme was not inhibited by the product acetate and thus the results of these studies, although consistent with an ordered mechanism in which NAD+ was the first substrate to bind, were inconclusive. That such a mechanism was followed was confirmed by determination of the initial-rate behaviour in the presence of acetaldehyde and glycolaldehyde as alternative substrates. When the reciprocal of the initial rate of NADH formation was plotted against the acetaldehyde concentration at a series of fixed ratios between that substrate and glycolaldehyde, a linear 'mixed inhibition' pattern was obtained, confirming the mechanism to be ordered with NAD+ being the leading substrate and with kinetically significant ternary complex-formation.

The effects of assay temperature on the complex kinetics of acetaldehyde oxidation by aldehyde dehydrogenase from human erythrocytes.

Several studies have shown preparations of the cytosolic aldehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.3) from sheep and human liver and from human erythrocytes to exhibit complex kinetic behaviour in which the dependence of the initial velocity on the concentration of acetaldehyde gives rise to downwardly curving double-reciprocal plots. This behaviour has often been analysed in terms of a sharp discontinuity in the double-reciprocal plots and its possible implications for the oxidation of acetaldehyde and other pharmacologically important aldehydes has been a subject of speculation. In the present work, it is shown that the purified, apparently homogeneous, enzyme from human erythrocytes exhibits such complex kinetic behaviour when initial rates are determined at 25 degrees, although the double-reciprocal plots describe a smooth curve with no sharp discontinuity. However, when the assays were performed at 37 degrees there was no significant deviation from Michaelis-Menten kinetics over a wide range of acetaldehyde concentrations (0.2-30 mM). At higher concentrations of acetaldehyde inhibition occurred which was competitive with respect to NAD+. These results, which indicate that the complex kinetic behaviour of aldehyde dehydrogenase is not important at physiological temperature, are interpreted in terms of the mechanisms that have been advanced to explain the phenomena.

Subcellular distribution of aldehyde dehydrogenase activities in human liver.

The subcellular distributions of aldehyde dehydrogenase activities towards acetaldehyde have been determined in wedge-biopsy samples of human liver. A form with Km values of less than 1 microM and 285 microM towards acetaldehyde and NAD+ respectively was present in the mitochondrial fraction. This enzyme had no detectable activity towards N-tele-methylimidazole acetaldehyde, the aldehyde derived from the oxidation of N-tele-methylhistamine. The activity in the cytosol was more sensitive to inhibition by disulfiram and had Km values of 270 microM and 25 microM for acetaldehyde and NAD+, respectively. It was active towards N-tele-methylimidazole acetaldehyde with a Km value of 2.5 microM and a maximum velocity that was 40% of that determined with acetaldehyde. Both these cytosolic activities had alkaline pH optima.