The metabolism of cresols by species of Pseudomonas

1. A comparison of rates of oxidation of various compounds by whole cells indicated that protocatechuate was a reaction intermediate when a non-fluorescent species of Pseudomonas oxidized p-cresol. In contrast, a fluorescent Pseudomonas oxidized 3-methylcatechol and 4-methylcatechol when grown with p-cresol, but did not oxidize protocatechuate. 2. Heat-treated extracts of the fluorescent Pseudomonas oxidized catechol, 3-methylcatechol and 4-methylcatechol to ring-fission products, the spectroscopic properties of which were recorded. Rates of enzymic degradation of these products were also measured. 3. Acetic acid and formic acid were obtained by the action of a Sephadex-treated extract on 3-methylcatechol and 4-methylcatechol respectively. In each case 0.8mol. of the carboxylic acid was formed from 1.0mol. of substrate. 4. Dialysed extracts converted 3-methylcatechol into acetaldehyde and pyruvate, with 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate as a reaction intermediate. 4-Methylcatechol was converted first into 4-hydroxy-2-oxohexanoate and then into propionaldehyde and pyruvate. 5. The ring-fission product of catechol was formed from phenol by a fluorescent Pseudomonas, that of 3-methylcatechol was formed from o-cresol and m-cresol, and the ring-fission product of 4-methylcatechol was given from p-cresol. Propionate was readily oxidized by these cells after growth with p-cresol, but this compound was not attacked when phenol, o-cresol or m-cresol served as source of carbon. 6. Cell extracts appeared to attack only one enantiomer of synthetic 4-hydroxy-2-oxohexanoate.     

Gentisic acid and its 3- and 4-methyl-substituted homologues as intermediates in the bacterial degradation of m-cresol, 3,5-xylenol and 2,5-xylenol

1. Intact cells of a non-fluorescent Pseudomonas grown with m-cresol, 2,5-xylenol, 3,5-xylenol, 3-ethyl-5-methylphenol or 2,3,5-trimethylphenol rapidly oxidized all these phenols to completion. 3-Hydroxybenzoate and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoate (gentisate) were also readily oxidized. 2. 3-Hydroxybenzoic acid and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid were isolated as products of m-cresol oxidation by cells inhibited by alphaalpha'-bipyridyl. Alkyl-substituted 3-hydroxybenzoic acids and alkyl-substituted gentisic acids were formed similarly from 2,5-xylenol, 3,5-xylenol, 3-ethyl-5-methylphenol and 2,3,5-trimethylphenol. 3. When supplemented with NADH, not NADPH, extracts of cells grown with 2,5-xylenol catalysed the oxidation of all five phenols and accumulated the corresponding gentisic acids in the presence of alphaalpha'-bipyridyl. 4. Cells of a fluorescent Pseudomonas grown with m-cresol oxidized m-cresol, 3,5-xylenol and 3-ethyl-5-methylphenol to completion and oxidized 2,5-xylenol and 2,3,5-trimethylphenol partially. The oxidation product of 2,5-xylenol was identified as 3-hydroxy-4-methylbenzoic acid. In the presence of alphaalpha'-bipyridyl, 3-hydroxy-5-methylbenzoic acid and 3-methylgentisic acid were formed from 3,5-xylenol.     

Bacterial degradation of 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetic and 3-ketoglutaric acids.

When grown at the expense of 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetic acid, a species of Arthrobacter readily oxidized 3,4-dihydroxy-5-methoxyphenylacetic acid, but other structurally related aromatic acids were oxidized only slowly. Cell extracts contained a dioxygenase for 3,4-dihydroxy-5-methoxyphenylacetate, and the corresponding trihydroxy acid, which was not attacked by the enzyme, inhibited oxidation of this ring-fission substrate. Cell suspensions did not release carbon dioxide from 3,4-[methoxyl-14C]dihydroxy-5-methoxyphenylacetate but accumulated 1 mol of methanol per mol of 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetate oxidized. A cell extract converted the ring-fission substrate into stoichiometric amounts of pyruvate and acetoacetate, formed from 3-ketoglutarate by the action of an induced decarboxylase. 3-Ketoglutaric acid served as sole source of carbon for many soil isolates.     

Bacterial Degradation of 4-Hydroxyphenylacetic Acid and Homoprotocatechuic Acid

A species of Acinetobacter and two strains of Pseudomonas putida when grown with 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid gave cell extracts that converted 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (homoprotocatechuic acid) into carbon dioxide, pyruvate, and succinate. The sequence of enzyme-catalyzed steps was as follows: ring-fission by a 2,3-dioxygenase, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent dehydrogenation, decarboxylation, hydration, aldol fission, and oxidation of succinic semialdehyde. Two new metabolites, 5-carboxymethyl-2-hydroxymuconic acid and 2-hydroxyhepta-2,4-diene-1,7-dioic acid, were isolated from reaction mixtures and a third, 4-hydroxy-2-ketopimelic acid, was shown to be cleaved by extracts to give pyruvate and succinic semialdehyde. Enzymes of this metabolic pathway were present in Acinetobacter grown with 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid but were effectively absent when 3-hydroxyphenylacetic acid or phenylacetic acid served as sources of carbon.     

Initial reactions of xanthone biodegradation by an Arthrobacter sp.

This study examined the catabolism of xanthone by an Arthrobacter sp. (strain GFB100) capable of growth on xanthone as its main source of carbon and energy. An early catabolic intermediate was 3,4-dihydroxyxanthone. This compound was isolated from the growth medium of a mutant strain of the Arthrobacter sp. which lacked the xanthone-inducible dihydroxyxanthone ring-fission dioxygenase of the wild-type strain. Cell extracts from wild-type xanthone-grown cells oxidized 3,4-dihydroxyxanthone to a yellow ring-fission metabolite. The same yellow compound accumulated in xanthone-grown cultures of a spontaneous mutant which lacked an active, xanthone-inducible, NADPH-linked ring-fission metabolite reductase. The yellow ring-fission metabolite appears to be 4-hydroxy-3-(2'-oxo-3-trans-butenoate)-coumarin, based on its nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum and mass spectral fragmentation pattern, indicating that ring cleavage of 3,4-dihydroxyxanthone was by an extra-diol (meta-fission) mechanism. Enzymatic analyses indicated that growth on xanthone induced a complete gentisate pathway: dioxygenase-catalyzed cleavage of gentisate to maleylpyruvate, isomerization of maleylpyruvate to fumarylpyruvate, and hydrolysis of fumarylpyruvate to fumarate and pyruvate. 4-Hydroxycoumarin was thought to be a likely pathway intermediate linking the early xanthone catabolic steps to the gentisate pathway, since 2-hydroxyacetophenone, a byproduct of 4-hydroxycoumarin hydrolysis, was formed when wild-type cells were cultured with xanthone. Chlorinated 2-hydroxyacetophenones were also obtained from specific chloro-substituted xanthones.     

Purification and properties of gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase from Moraxella osloensis.

Gentisate:oxygen 1,2-oxidoreductase (decyclizing) (EC 1.13.11.4; gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase) from Moraxella osloensis was purified to homogeneity as shown by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme has a molecular weight of about 154,000 and gives rise to subunits of molecular weight 40,000 in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase showed broad substrate specificity and attacked a range of halogen- and alkyl-substituted gentisic acids. Maleylpyruvate, the product formed from gentisate, was degraded by cell extracts supplemented with reduced glutathione, but substituted maleylpyruvates were not attacked under these conditions.     

Nicotinic acid metabolism. 2,3-Dimethylmalate lyase

1) A new enzyme, 2,3-dimethylmalate lyase, was purified from Clostridium barkeri to about 80% homogeneity. Some of the properties of the enzyme are described. 2) It is shown that the 2,3-dimethylmalic acid (m.p. 143 degrees C) described in the literature represents only one racemic pair. This pair is not attacked by 2,3-dimethylmalate lyase. 3) The isolation of both racemic pairs of 2,3-dimethylmalic acid is described. Half of one pair, m.p. 104-106 degrees C, was converted to propionate and pyruvate by 2,3-dimethylmalate lyase. 4) In combination with earlier work performed by E.R. Stadtman and coworkers the results given under points 1--3 establish 2,3-dimethylmalate as an intermediate in the degradation of nicotinic acid by C. barkeri. 5) Experimental evidence indicates the 2,3-dimethylmalate lyase is no acyl-S-enzyme and that it is different in this respect as well as in quaternary structure from the apparently related enzymes citrate lyase and citramalate lyase.     

Metabolism of l-Malate and d-Malate by a Species of Pseudomonas

Extracts of a fluorescent species of Pseudomonas grown with m-cresol, degrade gentisic acid without isomerization of the ring-fission compound, maleylpyruvate, to give eventually d-malate and pyruvate. d-Malate is also a growth substrate. l-Malate but not d-malate is oxidized by a particulate enzyme not requiring nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP). NAD- or NADP-linked malate dehydrogenases are absent but cells contain an NADP-dependent l-malic enzyme. Exposure of cells to exogenous d-malate induces an NAD-dependent d-malic enzyme, not present when d-malate is formed endogenously. Succinate- or m-cresol-grown cells, containing no d-malic enzyme, rapidly oxidize d-malate in the presence of chloramphenicol at a concentration suffient to inhibit protein synthesis. An NADP-dependent cell-free system, prepared from succinate-grown cells which oxidized d-malate, is described.     

Metabolism of 2,5-dichlorobenzoic acid inPseudomonas stutzeri

4-Chroropyrocatechol is formed as a results of the oxidation of 2,5-dichlorobenzoate byPseudomonas stutzeri. 3-Chloro-cis,cis-muconic acid is the product of the oxidation of 4-chloropyrocatechol. Pyrocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase, gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase, but not pyrocatechol 2,3-dioxygenase or protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase activities were found in cell-free extracts. Theortho cleavage activity for catechols appeared to involve induction of isoenzymes with different stereospecificity towards chlorocatechols. A catablic pathway for the degradation of 2,5-dichlorobenzoate by a newly isolated strain ofP. stutzeri was proposed.     

New aerobic benzoate oxidation pathway via benzoyl-coenzyme A and 3-hydroxybenzoyl-coenzyme A in a denitrifying Pseudomonas sp.

A denitrifying Pseudomonas sp. is able to oxidize aromatic compounds compounds completely to CO2, both aerobically and anaerobically. It is shown that benzoate is aerobically oxidized by a new degradation pathway via benzoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and 3-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA. The organism grew aerobically with benzoate, 3-hydroxybenzoate, and gentisate; catechol, 2-hydroxybenzoate, and protocatechuate were not used, and 4-hydroxybenzoate was a poor substrate. Mutants were obtained which were not able to utilize benzoate as the sole carbon source aerobically but still used 3-hydroxybenzoate or gentisate. Simultaneous adaptation experiments with whole cells seemingly suggested a sequential induction of enzymes of a benzoate oxidation pathway via 3-hydroxybenzoate and gentisate. Cells grown aerobically with benzoate contained a benzoate-CoA ligase (AMP forming) (0.1 mumol min-1 mg-1) which converted benzoate but not 3-hydroxybenzoate into its CoA thioester. The enzyme of 130 kDa composed of two identical subunits of 56 kDa was purified and characterized. Cells grown aerobically with 3-hydroxybenzoate contained a similarly active CoA ligase for 3-hydroxybenzoate, 3-hydroxybenzoate-CoA ligase (AMP forming). Extracts from cells grown aerobically with benzoate catalyzed a benzoyl-CoA- and flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent oxidation of NADPH with a specific activity of at least 25 nmol NADPH oxidized min-1 mg of protein-1; NADH and benzoate were not used. This new enzyme, benzoyl-CoA 3-monooxygenase, was specifically induced during aerobic growth with benzoate and converted [U-14C]benzoyl-CoA stoichiometrically to [14C]3-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA.     

Plasmid-borne Tn5 insertion mutation resulting in accumulation of gentisate from salicylate

Plasmid-borne Tn5 insertion mutants of a Pseudomonas species which accumulated 2,5-dihydroxybenzoate (gentisate) following growth on 2-hydroxybenzoate (salicylate) were obtained from a pool of mutants that were unable to grow on naphthalene. One such mutant was characterized further. The ability of this mutant to oxidize gentisate was 100-fold less than the ability of a Nah+ Sal+ strain harboring the unmutagenized plasmid, although both strains oxidized and grew on salicylate. These bacteria were presumably able to metabolize salicylate via catechol, since they possessed an inducible, plasmid-encoded catechol 2,3-dioxygenase. Our results suggest that there is an alternate, plasmid-encoded route of salicylate degradation via gentisate and that some plasmid-associated relationship between this pathway and naphthalene oxidation exists.     

Plasmid-borne Tn5 insertion mutation resulting in accumulation of gentisate from salicylate.

Plasmid-borne Tn5 insertion mutants of a Pseudomonas species which accumulated 2,5-dihydroxybenzoate (gentisate) following growth on 2-hydroxybenzoate (salicylate) were obtained from a pool of mutants that were unable to grow on naphthalene. One such mutant was characterized further. The ability of this mutant to oxidize gentisate was 100-fold less than the ability of a Nah+ Sal+ strain harboring the unmutagenized plasmid, although both strains oxidized and grew on salicylate. These bacteria were presumably able to metabolize salicylate via catechol, since they possessed an inducible, plasmid-encoded catechol 2,3-dioxygenase. Our results suggest that there is an alternate, plasmid-encoded route of salicylate degradation via gentisate and that some plasmid-associated relationship between this pathway and naphthalene oxidation exists.     

Alternative routes of aromatic catabolism in Pseudomonas acidovorans and Pseudomonas putida: gallic acid as a substrate and inhibitor of dioxygenases.

When 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (homoprotocatechuic acid) was added to Pseudomonase acidovorans growing at the expense of succinate, enzymes required for degrading homoprotocatechuate to pyruvate and succinate semialdehyde were strongly induced. These enzymes were effectively absent from cell extracts of the organism grown with 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, and this substrate was metabolized by the catabolic enzymes of the homogentisate pathway. Two separate ring-fission dioxygenases for 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid (gallic acid) were present in cell extracts of Pseudomonas putida when grown with syringic acid, and gallate was degraded by reactions associated with meta fission. One of the two gallate dioxygenases also attacked 3-O-methylgallic acid; the other, which did not, was induced when cells were exposed to gallate. This organism possessed ortho fission enzymes, including protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase (EC 1.13.11.3) and cis,cis-carboxymuconate-lactonizing enzyme (EC 5.5.1.2), after induction with 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (protocatechuic acid). Gallate was a substrate for protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase, with a Vmax about 3% of that of protocatechuate and with an apparent Km slightly lower. Gallate was a powerful competitive inhibitor of protocatechuate oxidation.     

Replacement of tyrosine 181 by phenylalanine in gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase I from Pseudomonas alcaligenes NCIMB 9867 enhances catalytic activities

xlnE, encoding gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase (EC 1.13.11.4), from Pseudomonas alcaligenes (P25X) was mutagenized by site-directed mutagenesis. The mutant enzyme, Y181F, demonstrated 4-, 3-, 6-, and 16-fold increases in relative activity towards gentisate and 3-fluoro-, 4-methyl-, and 3-methylgentisate, respectively. The specific mutation conferred a 13-fold higher catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m) on Y181F towards 3-methylgentisate than that of the wild-type enzyme.     

Bacterial degradation of 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamic acid with production of methanol.

When grown on 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamic acid, a strain of Pseudomonas putida oxidized this compound and also 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic, 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxybenzoic (syringic), and 3,4-dihydroxy-5-methoxybenzoic (3-O-methylgallic) acids, but 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxycinnamic and other acids bearing structural resemblances to the growth substrate were oxidized only slowly. These results indicate that two carbon atoms of the side chain of 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamate were released before oxidative demethylation occurred to give the ring-fission substrate, 3-O-methylgallate. Oxidation of 3,4,5-trimethoxycinnamate by intact cells gave equimolar amounts of methanol, which was derived from the methoxyl group of 3-O-methylgallate. The tricarboxylic acids, 4-carboxy-2-keto-3-hexenedioic and 4-carboxy-4-hydroxy-2-ketoadipic acids, were shown to be formed by the action of a cell extract upon 3-O-methylgallate; therefore, methanol was released either during or immediately after fission of the benzene nucleus. Cell extracts, prepared from several independent soil isolates after growth on 3,4,5-trimethoxy derivatives of benzoic, cinnamic, and beta-phenylpropionic acids, rapidly oxidized 3-O-methylgallate without added cofactors. It is concluded that the reactions investigated serve generally as a source of methanol in nature.     

The metabolism of thymol by a Pseudomonas

1. Pseudomonas putida when grown with thymol contained a meta-fission dioxygenase, which required ferrous ions and readily cleaved the benzene nucleus of catechols between adjacent carbon atoms bearing hydroxyl and isopropyl groups. 2. 3-Hydroxythymo-1,4-quinone was excreted towards the end of exponential growth and later was slowly metabolized. This compound was oxidized by partially purified extracts only when NADH was supplied; the substrate for the dioxygenase appeared to be 3-hydroxythymo-1,4-quinol, which was readily and non-enzymically oxidized to the quinone. 3. 2-Oxobutyrate (0.9 mole) was formed from 1 mole of 3-hydroxythymo-1,4-quinone with the consumption of 1 mole of oxygen; acetate, isobutyrate and 2-hydroxybutyrate (which arose from the enzymic reduction of 2-oxobutyrate) were also formed. 4. These products, which were produced only when the catechol substrate contained a third hydroxyl group, appeared to result from the enzymic hydrolysis of the ring-fission product.     

Purification and Characterization of Maleate Hydratase from Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes

Maleate hydratase (malease) from Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes has been purified. The purified enzyme (98% pure) catalyzes the stereospecific addition of water to maleate and citraconate (2-methylmaleate), forming d-(+)-malate and d-(+)-citramalate, respectively. 2,3-Dimethylmaleate was also a substrate for malease. The stability of the enzyme was dependent on the protein concentration and the addition of dicarboxylic acids. The purified enzyme (89 kDa) consisted of two subunits (57 and 24 kDa). No cofactor was required for full activity of this colorless enzyme. Maximum enzyme activity was measured at pH 8 and 45 degrees C. The K(m) for maleate was 0.35 mM, and that for citraconate was 0.20 mM. Thiol reagents, such as p-chloromercuribenzoate and iodoacetamide, and sodium dodecyl sulfate completely inhibited malease activity. Malease activity was competitively inhibited by d-malate (K(i) = 0.63 mM) and d-citramalate (K(i) = 0.083 mM) and by the substrate analog 2,2-dimethylsuccinate (K(i) = 0.025 mM). The apparent equilibrium constants for the maleate, citraconate, and 2,3-dimethylmaleate hydration reactions were 2,050, 104, and 11.2, respectively.     

p-cymene pathway in Pseudomonas putida: initial reactions.

Initial reactions of the p-cymene pathway induced in Pseudomonas putida PL have been reinvestigated. Oxidation of the methyl group attached to the nucleus occurs in three steps to give p-cumic acid. The substrate for the ring cleavage of 2,3-dihydroxy-p-cumate is formed from p-cumate in two reactions via a dihydrodiol intermediate (2,3-dihydroxy-4-isopropylcyclohexa-4,6-dienoate) and not as previously postulated via 3-hydroxy-p-cumate. There are three pieces of evidence for the physiological role of the dihydrodiol intermediate. (i) a mutant of P. putida PL-pT-11/43, which is unable to grow with p-cumate, accumulates a compound from p-cumate, which was identified as 2,3-dihydroxy-4-isopropylcyclohexa-4,6-dienoate. (II) This metabolite is enzymically oxidized by a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent dehydrogenase that is present in crude extracts of the wild type and a revertant strain (PL-pT-11/43-R1) but not in the mutant. (iii) 3-Hydroxy-p-cumate does not support growth of P . putida PL-W, and it is not oxidized by cells or extracts. 3-Hydroxy-p-cumate was readily isolated as before from culture supernatants, due to its ready formation from the dihydrodiol in acid solution. Mass spectral analysis of the dihydrodiol accumulated in 18O2-enriched atmospheres showed that both hydroxyl atoms are derived from the same molecule of O2. The formation and absorbance maxima of dihydrodiols that accumulated during the growth of the mutant PL-pT-11/43 in the presence of various benzoates (or toluenes) that have substituents at the carbon 4 atom also is reported.     

Catabolism of L-tyrosine by the homoprotocatechuate pathway in gram-positive bacteria.

A metabolic pathway for L-tyrosine catabolism involves 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (homoprotocatechuic acid) as substrate for fission of the benzene nucleus. Cell extracts of an organism tentatively identified as a Micrococcus possessed the enzymes required for degrading homoprotocatechuate to succinate and pyruvate, and stoichiometry was established for several of these reactions. When the required coenzymes were added, cell extracts degraded L-tyrosine to the ring-fission product of homoprotocatechuate 2,3-dioxygenase and also converted 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid into 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid. This compound, in turn, gave stoichiometric amounts of the ring-fission product of homoprotocatechuate by the action of a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-dependent 3-hydroxylase coupled with homoprotocatechuate 2,3-dioxygenase. Evidence is presented that this route for L-tyrosine catabolism is taken by five other gram-positive strains, including Micrococcus lysodeikticus and a species of Bacillus. Five other gram-positive bacteria from other genera employed the alternative homogentisate pathway.     

Pyruvate oxidase activity dependent on thiamine pyrophosphate, flavin adenine dinucleotide and orthophosphate in Streptococcus sanguis

Abstract Oxygen uptake by Streptococcus sanguis ATCC10556 in the presence of pyruvate was studied. In permeabilized cells pyruvate oxidase activity dependent on thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and orthophosphate was demonstrated. The activity was ten times higher in cells grown aerobically than in cells grown anaerobically. Acetyl phosphate was a product, and 1.1 mol of acetyl phosphate was formed per mol of oxygen taken up. No pyruvate dehydrogenase activity dependent on NAD, coenzyme A (CoA) and TPP was detected.