[Regulation of key enzymes of L-alanine biosynthesis by Brevibacterium flavum producer strains].

The mechanisms of L-alanine overproduction by Brevibacterium flavum producer strains were studied. It was shown that beta-CI-L-alanine is an inhibitor of some key enzymes involved in the synthesis of L-alanine, including alanine transaminase and valine-pyruvate transaminase. Two highly active B. flavum GL1 and GL1 8 producer strains, which are resistant to the inhibitory effect of beta-Cl-L-alanine, were obtained using a parental B. flavum AA5 producer strain, characterized by a reduced activity of alanine racemase (>or=98%). It was demonstrated that the increased L-alanine synthesis efficiency observed in the producer strains developed in this work is associated with the absence of inhibition of alanine transaminase by the end product of the biosynthesis reaction, as well as with the effect of derepression of both alanine transaminase and valine-pyruvate transaminase synthesis by the studied compound.

Oxy intermediates of homoprotocatechuate 2,3-dioxygenase: facile electron transfer between substrates.

Substrates homoprotocatechuate (HPCA) and O(2) bind to the Fe(II) of homoprotocatechuate 2,3-dioxygenase (FeHPCD) in adjacent coordination sites. Transfer of an electron(s) from HPCA to O(2) via the iron is proposed to activate the substrates for reaction with each other to initiate aromatic ring cleavage. Here, rapid-freeze-quench methods are used to trap and spectroscopically characterize intermediates in the reactions of the HPCA complexes of FeHPCD and the variant His200Asn (FeHPCD−HPCA and H200N−HPCA, respectively) with O(2). A blue intermediate forms within 20 ms of mixing of O(2) with H200N−HPCA (H200N(Int1)(HPCA)). Parallel mode electron paramagnetic resonance and Mössbauer spectroscopies show that this intermediate contains high-spin Fe(III) (S = 5/2) antiferromagnetically coupled to a radical (S(R) = 1/2) to yield an S = 2 state. Together, optical and Mössbauer spectra of the intermediate support assignment of the radical as an HPCA semiquinone, implying that oxygen is bound as a (hydro)peroxo ligand. H200N(Int1)(HPCA) decays over the next 2 s, possibly through an Fe(II) intermediate (H200N(Int2)(HPCA)), to yield the product and the resting Fe(II) enzyme. Reaction of FeHPCD−HPCA with O(2) results in rapid formation of a colorless Fe(II) intermediate (FeHPCD(Int1)(HPCA)). This species decays within 1 s to yield the product and the resting enzyme. The absence of a chromophore from a semiquinone or evidence of a spin-coupled species in FeHPCD(Int1)(HPCA) suggests it is an intermediate occurring after O(2) activation and attack. The similar Mössbauer parameters for FeHPCD(Int1)(HPCA) and H200N(Int2)(HPCA) suggest these are similar intermediates. The results show that transfer of an electron from the substrate to the O(2) via the iron does occur, leading to aromatic ring cleavage.