Characterisation of a chromosomally encoded catechol 1,2-dioxygenase (E.C. 1.13.11.1) from Alcaligenes eutrophus CH34.

Alcaligenes eutrophus CH34 used benzoate as a sole source of carbon and energy, degrading it through the 3-oxoadipate pathway. All the enzymes required for this degradation were shown to be encoded by chromosomal genes. Catechol 1,2-dioxygenase activity was induced by benzoate, catechol, 4-chlorocatechol, and muconate. The enzyme is most likely a homodimer, with an apparent molecular weight of 76,000 +/- 500. According to several criteria, its properties are intermediate between those of catechol 1,2-dioxygenases (CatA) and chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenases (ClcA). The determined Km for catechol is the lowest among known catechol and chlorocatechol dioxygenases. Similar Km values were found for para-substituted catechols, although the catalytic constants were much lower. The catechol 1,2-dioxygenase from strain CH34 is unique in its property to transform tetrachlorocatechol; however, excess substrate led to a marked reversible inhibition. Some meta- and multi-substituted catechols behaved similarly. The determined Km (or Ki) values for para- or meta-substituted catechols suggest that the presence of an electron-withdrawing substituent at one of these positions results in a higher affinity of the enzyme for the ligand. Results of studies of recognition by the enzyme of various nonmetabolised aromatic compounds are also discussed.

Purification and properties of cytochrome P-450 from Moraxella sp.

A cytochrome P-450 has been purified to homogeneity from a Moraxella species that is able to grow on guaiacol as the sole source of carbon and energy. The pure cytochrome was a monomeric protein of about 52 kDa, with no catalytic activity towards guaiacol. The difference in mM extinction coefficients between 450 and 490 nm in the CO-difference spectrum was 89.5 mM-1.cm-1. The typical shift of the Soret band from 415 to 390 nm that is attributed to the high-spin state of the cytochrome was observed in the presence of guaiacol and other 2-alkoxyphenols with up to 5 carbons in the side chain. It was also obtained with anisole. The maximum difference in mM extinction coefficients between 390 and 420 nm in the P-450 + ligand minus P-450 spectrum was 65 mM-1.cm-1 in all instances. The dissociation constants of the complexes formed between the pure protein and various O-alkoxyphenols were measured, and ranged from 0.1 microM (guaiacol) to 24 microM (2-butoxyphenol). The dissociation constants were 1 microM for anisole, and over 90 microM for phenol. Catechol induced no spectral change in cytochrome P-450 and appeared to be a weak inhibitor of guaiacol binding. The same spectral shift as induced by guaiacol was observed at high P-450 concentration over 1 microM in the absence of any added ligand and disappeared after dilution. The reduction of pure P-450 by dithionite was immediate, but became very slow, and was complete after 10 min or more at 25 degrees C in the presence of guaiacol. This effect was also obtained with the 2 isomers, 3- and 4-methoxyphenols, and with metyrapone, an inhibitor of guaiacol binding that induced the low-spin state. Preliminary experiments using the crude cell lysate or a reconstructed system with purified P-450 and a protein fraction indicated NADH-dependent guaiacol degradation. This was in agreement with the former hypothesis of Moraxella P-450 acting as a monooxygenase in the demethylation of guaiacol. However, cis, cis-muconate rather than catechol was obtained from the substrate, most likely a consequence of the potent catechol 1,2-dioxygenase activity present in the non-purified protein fractions used.

The demethylation of guaiacol by a new bacterial cytochrome P-450.

Spectroscopic studies were carried with a cytochrome P-450 in Moraxella sp., strain GU2, that could grow on guaiacol or 2-ethoxyphenol as the sole source of carbon and energy. The dissociation constant of the guaiacol-cytochrome complex was estimated to 0.15 microM, as determined in vivo or using the cell soluble extract. Cytochrome P-450 could also bind 2-ethoxyphenol, 2-propoxyphenol, and 2-butoxyphenol, and the dissociation constants have been determined in each case. Metyrapone depressed the degradation of guaiacol by whole bacteria, and was bound competitively to guaiacol with a constant of about 0.8 mM. Some catechol was excreted by the bacteria when growing on either guaiacol or 2-ethoxyphenol. Catechol and the other product of guaiacol demethylation, formaldehyde, were further oxidized by the bacteria. All the data available so far are consistent with cytochrome P-450 in Moraxella GU2 as a hydroxylase for the guaiacol side chain, behaving as a nonspecific O-dealkylase with broad specificity for guaiacol and homologous compounds with a longer carbon part in the side chain.

Generation of hydrogen peroxide during the oxidation of L-phenylalanine by Proteus mirabilis isolated membranes.

In the process of L-phenylalanine oxidation by Proteus mirabilis cytoplasmic membrane, hydrogen peroxide was produced at a rate corresponding to 1-3 per cent of the total electron flow (30-110 nmoles min-1mg-1). Peroxide was estimated using a fluorimetric assay with horseradish peroxidase, or by anodic oxidation on a platinum electrode. When using the former method, superoxide dismutase decreased the apparent yield of peroxide, a fact suggesting that H2O2 was in part the dismutation product of superoxide radicals. However the superoxide dismutase effect could be an artefact due to the generation of some superoxide during the peroxidatic reaction in the assay. Adrenaline was the reagent used for the detection of superoxide. There was no significant emergence of superoxide as the result of phenylalanine oxidation by the membrane (specific activity lower than 1-2 nmoles min-1mg-1). Thus it seemed that superoxide was not an intermediate for the bulk of H2O2 formed in this system. According to the results, peroxide was probably formed at a stage of electron transport earlier than the cytochrome level. The membrane phenylalanine dehydrogenase could be a site where peroxide was evolved in these experiments.