Substrate specificity of atrazine chlorohydrolase and atrazine-catabolizing bacteria

Bacterial atrazine catabolism is initiated by the enzyme atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) in Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. Other triazine herbicides are metabolized by bacteria, but the enzymological basis of this is unclear. Here we begin to address this by investigating the catalytic activity of AtzA by using substrate analogs. Purified AtzA from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP catalyzed the hydrolysis of an atrazine analog that was substituted at the chlorine substituent by fluorine. AtzA did not catalyze the hydrolysis of atrazine analogs containing the pseudohalide azido, methoxy, and cyano groups or thiomethyl and amino groups. Atrazine analogs with a chlorine substituent at carbon 2 and N-alkyl groups, ranging in size from methyl to t-butyl, all underwent dechlorination by AtzA. AtzA catalyzed hydrolytic dechlorination when one nitrogen substituent was alkylated and the other was a free amino group. However, when both amino groups were unalkylated, no reaction occurred. Cell extracts were prepared from five strains capable of atrazine dechlorination and known to contain atzA or closely homologous gene sequences: Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP, Rhizobium strain PATR, Alcaligenes strain SG1, Agrobacterium radiobacter J14a, and Ralstonia picketti D. All showed identical substrate specificity to purified AtzA from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. Cell extracts from Clavibacter michiganensis ATZ1, which also contains a gene homologous to atzA, were able to transform atrazine analogs containing pseudohalide and thiomethyl groups, in addition to the substrates used by AtzA from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. This suggests that either (i) another enzyme(s) is present which confers the broader substrate range or (ii) the AtzA itself has a broader substrate range.     

Atrazine chlorohydrolase from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP: gene sequence, enzyme purification, and protein characterization.

Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP metabolizes atrazine to carbon dioxide and ammonia via the intermediate hydroxyatrazine. The genetic potential to produce hydroxyatrazine was previously attributed to a 1.9-kb AvaI DNA fragment from strain ADP (M. L. de Souza, L. P. Wackett, K. L. Boundy-Mills, R. T. Mandelbaum, and M. J. Sadowsky, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61:3373-3378, 1995). In this study, sequence analysis of the 1.9-kb AvaI fragment indicated that a single open reading frame, atzA, encoded an activity transforming atrazine to hydroxyatrazine. The open reading frame for the chlorohydrolase was determined by sequencing to be 1,419 nucleotides and encodes a 473-amino-acid protein with a predicted subunit molecular weight of 52,421. The deduced amino acid sequence matched the first 10 amino acids determined by protein microsequencing. The protein AtzA was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange chromatography. The subunit and holoenzyme molecular weights were 60,000 and 245,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and gel filtration chromatography, respectively. The purified enzyme in H2(18)O yielded [18O]hydroxyatrazine, indicating that AtzA is a chlorohydrolase and not an oxygenase. The most related protein sequence in GenBank was that of TrzA, 41% identity, from Rhodococcus corallinus NRRL B-15444R. TrzA catalyzes the deamination of melamine and the dechlorination of deethylatrazine and desisopropylatrazine but is not active with atrazine. AtzA catalyzes the dechlorination of atrazine, simazine, and desethylatrazine but is not active with melamine, terbutylazine, or desethyldesisopropylatrazine. Our results indicate that AtzA is a novel atrazine-dechlorinating enzyme with fairly restricted substrate specificity and contributes to the microbial hydrolysis of atrazine to hydroxyatrazine in soils and groundwater.     

Substrate Specificity of Atrazine Chlorohydrolase and Atrazine-Catabolizing Bacteria

Bacterial atrazine catabolism is initiated by the enzyme atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) in Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. Other triazine herbicides are metabolized by bacteria, but the enzymological basis of this is unclear. Here we begin to address this by investigating the catalytic activity of AtzA by using substrate analogs. Purified AtzA from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP catalyzed the hydrolysis of an atrazine analog that was substituted at the chlorine substituent by fluorine. AtzA did not catalyze the hydrolysis of atrazine analogs containing the pseudohalide azido, methoxy, and cyano groups or thiomethyl and amino groups. Atrazine analogs with a chlorine substituent at carbon 2 and N-alkyl groups, ranging in size from methyl to t-butyl, all underwent dechlorination by AtzA. AtzA catalyzed hydrolytic dechlorination when one nitrogen substituent was alkylated and the other was a free amino group. However, when both amino groups were unalkylated, no reaction occurred. Cell extracts were prepared from five strains capable of atrazine dechlorination and known to contain atzA or closely homologous gene sequences: Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP, Rhizobium strain PATR, Alcaligenes strain SG1, Agrobacterium radiobacter J14a, and Ralstonia picketti D. All showed identical substrate specificity to purified AtzA from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. Cell extracts from Clavibacter michiganensis ATZ1, which also contains a gene homologous to atzA, were able to transform atrazine analogs containing pseudohalide and thiomethyl groups, in addition to the substrates used by AtzA from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP. This suggests that either (i) another enzyme(s) is present which confers the broader substrate range or (ii) the AtzA itself has a broader substrate range.     

Enzymatic degradation of chlorodiamino-s-triazine

2-Chloro-4,6-diamino-s-triazine (CAAT) is a metabolite of atrazine biodegradation in soils. Atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) catalyzes the dechlorination of atrazine but is unreactive with CAAT. In this study, melamine deaminase (TriA), which is 98% identical to AtzA, catalyzed deamination of CAAT to produce 2-chloro-4-amino-6-hydroxy-s-triazine (CAOT). CAOT underwent dechlorination via hydroxyatrazine ethylaminohydrolase (AtzB) to yield ammelide. This represents a newly discovered dechlorination reaction for AtzB. Ammelide was subsequently hydrolyzed by N-isopropylammelide isopropylaminohydrolase to produce cyanuric acid, a compound metabolized by a variety of soil bacteria.     

AtzC Is a New Member of the Amidohydrolase Protein Superfamily and Is Homologous to Other Atrazine-Metabolizing Enzymes

Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP metabolizes atrazine to cyanuric acid via three plasmid-encoded enzymes, AtzA, AtzB, and AtzC. The first enzyme, AtzA, catalyzes the hydrolytic dechlorination of atrazine, yielding hydroxyatrazine. The second enzyme, AtzB, catalyzes hydroxyatrazine deamidation, yielding N-isopropylammelide. In this study, the third gene in the atrazine catabolic pathway, atzC, was cloned from a Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP cosmid library as a 25-kb EcoRI DNA fragment in Escherichia coli. The atzC gene was further delimited by functional analysis following transposon Tn5 mutagenesis and subcloned as a 2.0-kb EcoRI-AvaI fragment. An E. coli strain containing this DNA fragment expressed N-isopropylammelide isopropylamino hydrolase activity, metabolizing N-isopropylammelide stoichiometrically to cyanuric acid and N-isopropylamine. The 2.0-kb DNA fragment was sequenced and found to contain a single open reading frame of 1,209 nucleotides, encoding a protein of 403 amino acids. AtzC showed modest sequence identity of 29 and 25%, respectively, to cytosine deaminase and dihydroorotase, both members of an amidohydrolase protein superfamily. The sequence of AtzC was compared to that of E. coli cytosine deaminase in the regions containing the five ligands to the catalytically important metal for the protein. Pairwise comparison of the 35 amino acids showed 61% sequence identity and 85% sequence similarity. AtzC is thus assigned to the amidohydrolase protein family that includes cytosine deaminase, urease, adenine deaminase, and phosphotriester hydrolase. Similar sequence comparisons of the most highly conserved regions indicated that the AtzA and AtzB proteins also belong to the same amidohydrolase family. Overall, the data suggest that AtzA, AtzB, and AtzC diverged from a common ancestor and, by random events, have been reconstituted onto an atrazine catabolic plasmid.     

Bacterial Ammeline Metabolism via Guanine Deaminase

Melamine toxicity in mammals has been attributed to the blockage of kidney tubules by insoluble complexes of melamine with cyanuric acid or uric acid. Bacteria metabolize melamine via three consecutive deamination reactions to generate cyanuric acid. The second deamination reaction, in which ammeline is the substrate, is common to many bacteria, but the genes and enzymes responsible have not been previously identified. Here, we combined bioinformatics and experimental data to identify guanine deaminase as the enzyme responsible for this biotransformation. The ammeline degradation phenotype was demonstrated in wild-type Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas strains, including E. coli K12 and Pseudomonas putida KT2440. Bioinformatics analysis of these and other genomes led to the hypothesis that the ammeline deaminating enzyme was guanine deaminase. An E. coli guanine deaminase deletion mutant was deficient in ammeline deaminase activity, supporting the role of guanine deaminase in this reaction. Two guanine deaminases from disparate sources (Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA 110 and Homo sapiens) that had available X-ray structures were purified to homogeneity and shown to catalyze ammeline deamination at rates sufficient to support bacterial growth on ammeline as a sole nitrogen source. In silico models of guanine deaminase active sites showed that ammeline could bind to guanine deaminase in a similar orientation to guanine, with a favorable docking score. Other members of the amidohydrolase superfamily that are not guanine deaminases were assayed in vitro, and none had substantial ammeline deaminase activity. The present study indicated that widespread guanine deaminases have a promiscuous activity allowing them to catalyze a key reaction in the bacterial transformation of melamine to cyanuric acid and potentially contribute to the toxicity of melamine.Ammeline is an intermediate in the bacterial metabolism of melamine (Fig. ​(Fig.1).1). Melamine has become internationally recognized as a chemical adulterant in pet foods and infant formula that caused morbidity and mortality in pets and children (12). In pets, where more than 1,000 deaths have been attributed to melamine poisoning, the composition of the causal kidney precipitate was found to be a 1:1 complex of melamine-cyanuric acid (2, 25). In human babies, melamine-uric acid cocrystals have been identified (11). Feeding animals a mixture of melamine and cyanuric acid or a mixture of melamine, ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid was found to produce acute kidney disease (5). Melamine and cyanuric acid are known to form a highly insoluble, hydrogen-bonded network (33) that can precipitate in the kidneys, causing kidney failure. Since bacterial metabolism of melamine generates cyanuric acid (6, 7, 14), it is possible that bacterial melamine metabolism could contribute to melamine toxicity in some cases.Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.The known metabolic pathway in bacteria for transforming melamine to cyanuric acid.Bacteria metabolize melamine by sequential deamination (4, 6, 7, 14, 30) to ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid (Fig. ​(Fig.1).1). The genes and enzymes involved in the deamination of melamine and ammelide are known. Melamine deaminases (TriA and TrzA) have been purified and characterized (20, 28). The enzymes AtzC (34) and TrzC (7) were shown to be capable of ammelide deamination. Although ammeline deamination has been observed in a large number of microbial strains (37), the genes and enzymes involved in bacterial ammeline deamination have remained obscure. Many of the bacteria and fungi that were shown to deaminate ammeline did not deaminate melamine or ammelide (37), indicating that these ammeline deaminating enzymes have not evolved as a component of the melamine degradation pathway.Enzymes functioning in the metabolism of the s-triazine herbicide atrazine are related to some of the enzymes in the melamine pathway. TriA (melamine deaminase) is related to AtzA (28, 31) and TrzN (35), enzymes that catalyze the dechlorination of atrazine. AtzB, which catalyzes the second step in the atrazine metabolic pathway, was reported to also deaminate ammeline as a side reaction, but the rate of the reaction was not measured in that study (27).The enzymes involved in melamine and ammelide deamination, along with other enzymes acting on s-triazine herbicides, are all members of the amidohydrolase superfamily (32, 36). These enzymes typically contain one or two metal ions that are involved in activating water for nucleophilic displacement reactions. A significant number of amidohydrolase superfamily members catalyze deamination reactions with nitrogen heterocyclic ring substrates. In this context, we specifically analyzed the amidohydrolase enzymes in ammeline-metabolizing bacteria to identify the enzyme responsible for the activity. Molecular genetic, biochemical, and in silico data support the hypothesis that guanine deaminase functions as the principal ammeline deaminase activity of bacteria. This has implications for enzyme catalytic promiscuity and understanding the bacterial metabolism of melamine. The latter may be relevant to melamine toxicity in humans and animals.     

Intramolecular epistasis and the evolution of a new enzymatic function

Atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) and its close relative melamine deaminase (TriA) differ by just nine amino acid substitutions but have distinct catalytic activities. Together, they offer an informative model system to study the molecular processes that underpin the emergence of new enzymatic function. Here we have constructed the potential evolutionary trajectories between AtzA and TriA, and characterized the catalytic activities and biophysical properties of the intermediates along those trajectories. The order in which the nine amino acid substitutions that separate the enzymes could be introduced to either enzyme, while maintaining significant catalytic activity, was dictated by epistatic interactions, principally between three amino acids within the active site: namely, S331C, N328D and F84L. The mechanistic basis for the epistatic relationships is consistent with a model for the catalytic mechanisms in which protonation is required for hydrolysis of melamine, but not atrazine.     

Enzymatic Degradation of Chlorodiamino-s-Triazine

2-Chloro-4,6-diamino-s-triazine (CAAT) is a metabolite of atrazine biodegradation in soils. Atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) catalyzes the dechlorination of atrazine but is unreactive with CAAT. In this study, melamine deaminase (TriA), which is 98% identical to AtzA, catalyzed deamination of CAAT to produce 2-chloro-4-amino-6-hydroxy-s-triazine (CAOT). CAOT underwent dechlorination via hydroxyatrazine ethylaminohydrolase (AtzB) to yield ammelide. This represents a newly discovered dechlorination reaction for AtzB. Ammelide was subsequently hydrolyzed by N-isopropylammelide isopropylaminohydrolase to produce cyanuric acid, a compound metabolized by a variety of soil bacteria.     

The degradative pathway of the s-triazine melamine. The steps to ring cleavage.

1. The degradative pathway of melamine (1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine) was examined in Pseudomonas sp. strain A. 2. The bacterium grew with melamine, ammeline, ammelide, cyanuric acid or NH+4 as sole source of nitrogen, and each substrate was entirely metabolized. Utilization of ammeline, ammelide, cyanuric acid or NH+4 was concomitant with growth. But with melamine as substrate, a transient intermediate was detected, which was identified as ammeline by three methods. 3. Enzymes from strain A were separated by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, and four activities were examined. 4. Melamine was converted stoichiometrically into equimolar amounts of ammeline and NH+4. 5. Ammeline was converted stoichiometrically into equimolar amounts of ammelide and NH+4; ammelide was identified by four methods. 6. Ammelide was converted stoichiometrically into equimolar amounts of cyanuric acid and NH+4; cyanuric acid was identified by four methods. 7. Cyanuric acid was converted by an enzyme preparation into an unidentified product with negligible release of NH+4. 8. The specific activities of the degradative enzymes (greater than or equal to 0.3 mkat/kg of protein) were high enough to explain the growth rate of the organism. 9. The bacterium converted 0.4 mM-melamine anaerobically into 2.3 mM-NH+4. 10. Two other pseudomonads and two strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae were also examined, with similar results. 11. The degradative pathway of melamine appears to be hydrolytic, and proceeds by three successive deaminations to cyanuric acid, which is further metabolized.     

Plasmid localization and organization of melamine degradation genes in Rhodococcus sp. strain Mel

Rhodococcus sp. strain Mel was isolated from soil by enrichment and grew in minimal medium with melamine as the sole N source with a doubling time of 3.5 h. Stoichiometry studies showed that all six nitrogen atoms of melamine were assimilated. The genome was sequenced by Roche 454 pyrosequencing to 13× coverage, and a 22.3-kb DNA region was found to contain a homolog to the melamine deaminase gene trzA. Mutagenesis studies showed that the cyanuric acid hydrolase and biuret hydrolase genes were clustered together on a different 17.9-kb contig. Curing and gene transfer studies indicated that 4 of 6 genes required for the complete degradation of melamine were located on an ～265-kb self-transmissible linear plasmid (pMel2), but this plasmid was not required for ammeline deamination. The Rhodococcus sp. strain Mel melamine metabolic pathway genes were located in at least three noncontiguous regions of the genome, and the plasmid-borne genes encoding enzymes for melamine metabolism were likely recently acquired.     

Dechlorination of Atrazine by a Rhizobium sp. Isolate

A Rhizobium sp. strain, named PATR, was isolated from an agricultural soil and found to actively degrade the herbicide atrazine. Incubation of PATR in a basal liquid medium containing 30 mg of atrazine liter(sup-1) resulted in the rapid consumption of the herbicide and the accumulation of hydroxyatrazine as the only metabolite detected after 8 days of culture. Experiments performed with ring-labeled [(sup14)C]atrazine indicated no mineralization. The enzyme responsible for the hydroxylation of atrazine was partially purified and found to consist of four 50-kDa subunits. Its synthesis in PATR was constitutive. This new atrazine hydrolase demonstrated 92% sequence identity through a 24-amino-acid fragment with atrazine chlorohydrolase AtzA produced by Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP.     

The atzB gene of Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP encodes the second enzyme of a novel atrazine degradation pathway.

We previously reported the isolation of a 21.5-kb genomic DNA fragment from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP, which contains the atzA gene, encoding the first metabolic step for the degradation of the herbicide atrazine (M. de Souza, L. P. Wackett, K. L. Boundy-Mills, R. T. Mandelbaum, and M. J. Sadowsky, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61:3373-3378, 1995). In this study, we show that this fragment also contained the second gene of the atrazine metabolic pathway, atzB. AtzB catalyzed the transformation of hydroxyatrazine to N-isopropylammelide. The product was identified by use of high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometery, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Tn5 mutagenesis of pMD1 was used to determine that atzB was located 8 kb downstream of atzA. Hydroxyatrazine degradation activity was localized to a 4.0-kb ClaI fragment, which was subcloned into the vector pACYC184 to produce plasmid pATZB-2. The DNA sequence of this region was determined and found to contain two large overlapping divergent open reading frames, ORF1 and ORF2. ORF1 was identified as the coding region of atzB by demonstrating that (i) only ORF1 was transcribed in Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP, (ii) a Tn5 insertion in ORF2 did not disrupt function, and (iii) codon usage was consistent with ORF1 being translated. AtzB had 25% amino acid identity with TrzA, a protein that catalyzes a hydrolytic deamination of the s-triazine substrate melamine. The atzA and atzB genes catalyze the first two steps of the metabolic pathway in a bacterium that rapidly metabolizes atrazine to carbon dioxide, ammonia, and chloride.     

Biodegradation of melamine and its hydroxy derivatives by a bacterial consortium containing a novel Nocardioides species

Melamine has recently been recognized as a food contaminant with adverse human health effects. Melamine contamination in some crops arises from soil and water pollution from various causes. To remove melamine from the polluted environment, a novel bacterium, Nocardioides sp. strain ATD6, capable of degrading melamine was enriched and isolated from a paddy soil sample. The enrichment culture was performed by the soil-charcoal perfusion method in the presence of triazine-degrading bacteria previously obtained. Strain ATD6 degraded melamine and accumulated cyanuric acid and ammonium, via the intermediates ammeline and ammelide. No gene known to encode for triazine-degrading enzymes was detected in strain ATD6. A mixed culture of strain ATD6 and a simazine-degrading Methyloversatilis sp. strain CDB21 completely degraded melamine, but the degradation rate of cyanuric acid was slow. The degradation of melamine and its catabolites by the mixed culture was greatly enhanced by including Bradyrhizobium japonicum strain CSB1 in the inoculum and adding ethanol to the culture medium. The melamine-degrading consortium consisting of strains ATD6, CDB21, and CSB1 appears to be potentially safer than other known melamine-degrading bacteria for the bioremediation of farmland and other contaminated sites, as no known pathogens were included in the consortium.     

Atrazine chlorohydrolase from Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP is a metalloenzyme

Atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) from Pseudomonas sp. ADP initiates the metabolism of the herbicide atrazine by catalyzing a hydrolytic dechlorination reaction to produce hydroxyatrazine. Sequence analysis revealed AtzA to be homologous to metalloenzymes within the amidohydrolase protein superfamily. AtzA activity was experimentally shown to depend on an enzyme-bound, divalent transition-metal ion. Loss of activity obtained by incubating AtzA with the chelator 1,10-phenanthroline or oxalic acid was reversible upon addition of Fe(II), Mn(II), or Co(II) salts. Experimental evidence suggests a 1:1 metal to subunit stoichiometry, with the native metal being Fe(II). Our data show that the inhibitory effects of metals such as Zn(II) and Cu(II) are not the result of displacing the active site metal. Taken together, these data indicate that AtzA is a functional metalloenzyme, making this the first report, to our knowledge, of a metal-dependent dechlorinating enzyme that proceeds via a hydrolytic mechanism.     

Purification and characterization of D-2-haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas putida strain AJ1/23

A D-2-haloacid dehalogenase was isolated and purified to homogeneity from Pseudomonas putida strain AJ1/23. The enzyme catalysed the stereospecific dehalogenation of the D-isomer of 2-chloropropionate. Using a new ion-chromatograph assay, the enzyme was found to catalyse the dehalogenation of short-chain 2-halocarboxylic acids. Maximum enzyme activity occurred at pH 9.5 and 50 degrees C and the enzyme was insensitive to most -SH reagents. The enzyme has an Mr of about 135,000 and appears to be composed of four subunits of identical Mr.     

Isolation, sequence, and expression in Escherichia coli of the Pseudomonas sp. strain ACP gene encoding 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase.

Pseudomonas sp. strain ACP is capable of growth on 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) as a nitrogen source owing to induction of the enzyme ACC deaminase and the subsequent conversion of ACC to alpha-ketobutyrate and ammonia (M. Honma, Agric. Biol. Chem. 49:567-571, 1985). The complete amino acid sequence of purified ACC deaminase was determined, and the sequence information was used to clone the ACC deaminase gene from a 6-kb EcoRI fragment of Pseudomonas sp. strain ACP DNA. DNA sequence analysis of an EcoRI-PstI subclone demonstrated an open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide with a deduced amino acid sequence identical to the protein sequence determined chemically and a predicted molecular mass of 36,674 Da. The ORF also contained an additional 72 bp of upstream sequence not predicted by the amino acid sequence. Escherichia coli minicells containing the 6-kb clone expressed a major polypeptide of the size expected for ACC deaminase which was reactive with ACC deaminase antiserum. Furthermore, a lacZ fusion with the ACC deaminase ORF resulted in the expression of active enzyme in E. coli. ACC is a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of ethylene in plants, and the use of the ACC deaminase gene to manipulate this pathway is discussed.     

Bacterial DL-2-haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. strain 113: gene cloning and structural comparison with D- and L-2-haloacid dehalogenases.

DL-2-Haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. strain 113 (DL-DEX) catalyzes the hydrolytic dehalogenation of both D- and L-2-haloalkanoic acids to produce the corresponding L- and D-2-hydroxyalkanoic acids, respectively, with inversion of the C2 configuration. DL-DEX is a unique enzyme: it acts on the chiral carbon of the substrate and uses both enantiomers as equivalent substrates. We have isolated and sequenced the gene encoding DL-DEX. The open reading frame consists of 921 bp corresponding to 307 amino acid residues. No sequence similarity between DL-DEX and L-2-haloacid dehalogenases was found. However, DL-DEX had significant sequence similarity with D-2-haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas putida AJ1, which specifically acts on D-2-haloalkanoic acids: 23% of the total amino acid residues of DL-DEX are conserved. We mutated each of the 26 residues with charged and polar side chains, which are conserved between DL-DEX and D-2-haloacid dehalogenase. Thr65, Glu69, and Asp194 were found to be essential for dehalogenation of not only the D- but also the L-enantiomer of 2-haloalkanoic acids. Each of the mutant enzymes, whose activities were lower than that of the wild-type enzyme, acted on both enantiomers of 2-haloacids as equivalent substrates in the same manner as the wild-type enzyme. We also found that each enantiomer of 2-chloropropionate competitively inhibits the enzymatic dehalogenation of the other. These results suggest that DL-DEX has a single and common catalytic site for both enantiomers.     

Cloning and analysis of s-triazine catabolic genes from Pseudomonas sp. strain NRRLB-12227.

Pseudomonas sp. strain NRRLB-12227 degrades the s-triazine melamine by a six-step pathway which allows it to use melamine and pathway intermediates as nitrogen sources. With the plasmid pLG221, mutants defective in five of the six steps of the pathway were generated. Tn5-containing-EcoRI fragments from these mutants were cloned and identified by selection for Tn5-encoded kanamycin resistance in transformants. A restriction fragment from ammelide-negative mutant RE411 was used as a probe in colony hybridization experiments to identify cloned wild-type s-triazine catabolic genes encoding ammeline aminohydrolase, ammelide aminohydrolase, and cyanuric acid amidohydrolase. These genes were cloned from total cellular DNA on several similar, but not identical, HindIII fragments, as well as on a PstI fragment and a BglII fragment. Restriction mapping and Southern hybridization analyses of these cloned DNA fragments suggested that these s-triazine catabolic genes may be located on a transposable element, the ends of which are identical 2.2-kb insertion sequences.     

Amino acids in positions 48, 52, and 73 differentiate the substrate specificities of the highly homologous chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenases CbnA and TcbC

Chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase (CCD) is the first-step enzyme of the chlorocatechol ortho-cleavage pathway, which plays a central role in the degradation of various chloroaromatic compounds. Two CCDs, CbnA from the 3-chlorobenzoate-degrader Ralstonia eutropha NH9 and TcbC from the 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene-degrader Pseudomonas sp. strain P51, are highly homologous, having only 12 different amino acid residues out of identical lengths of 251 amino acids. But CbnA and TcbC are different in substrate specificities against dichlorocatechols, favoring 3,5-dichlorocatechol (3,5-DC) and 3,4-dichlorocatechol (3,4-DC), respectively. A study of chimeric mutants constructed from the two CCDs indicated that the N-terminal parts of the enzymes were responsible for the difference in the substrate specificities. Site-directed mutagenesis studies further identified the amino acid in position 48 (Leu in CbnA and Val in TcbC) as critical in differentiating the substrate specificities of the enzymes, which agreed well with molecular modeling of the two enzymes. Mutagenesis studies also demonstrated that Ile-73 of CbnA and Ala-52 of TcbC were important for their high levels of activity towards 3,5-DC and 3,4-DC, respectively. The importance of Ile-73 for 3,5-DC specificity determination was also shown with other CCDs such as TfdC from Burkholderia sp. NK8 and TfdC from Alcaligenes sp. CSV90 (identical to TfdC from R. eutropha JMP134), which convert 3,5-DC preferentially. Together with amino acid sequence comparisons indicating high conservation of Leu-48 and Ile-73 among CCDs, these results suggested that TcbC of strain P51 had diverged from other CCDs to be adapted to conversion of 3,4-DC.