The enthalpy of oxidation of flavin mononucleotide

The oxidation enthalpy of reduced flavin mononucleotide at pH 7.0 in 0.2 m phosphate buffer has been studied by determining the heat associated with the reaction: FMNH₂ + 2 Fe(CN)^?3₆ ? FMN + 2 Fe(CN)^?4₆ + 2 H⁺. (a) (The quinone, semiquinone, and hydroquinone forms of FMN are represented as FMN, FMNH, and FMNH₂, respectively.) Calorimetric experiments were performed in a flow microcalorimeter which was modified to prevent sample contamination by oxygen. The enthalpy observed for reaction (a), after correction for dilution and buffer effects, was ?39.2 ± 0.4 kcal (mole FMNH₂)^?1 at 25 °C. The potential difference, ΔE′, developed by reaction (a) was determined potentiometrically and corresponded to a free energy change, ΔG′, of ?30.3 kcal (mole FMNH₂)^?1. The resulting entropy change, ΔS′, was thus calculated to be ?29.8 e.u. Reaction (a) was also studied at temperatures of 7 °C and 35.5 °C. ΔC_p′ for the reaction was calculated as ?155 ± 18 cal deg^?1 (mole FMNH₂)^?1 at 20 °C. ΔH′ for the reaction (b), FMNH₂ ? FMN + H₂, (b) was calculated as +14.2 ± 0.7 kcal mole^?1 at 25 °C, relative to the enthalpy of the hydrogen electrode being identically equal to zero at all values of pH and temperature. The free energy at pH 7.0 for reaction (b), calculated from the potential was found to be ?9.7 kcal mole^?1, which resulted in an entropy for reaction (b) of 80.2 e.u. A thermal titration of reaction (a) was used to calculate the thermodynamic parameters for the formation of semiquinone dimer according to the reaction FMNH₂ + FMN ? (·FMNH)₂. (c) The free energy, enthalpy, and entropy changes for reaction (c) were estimated to be ?6.1 kcal mole^?1, ?7 kcal mole^?1, and ?3 e.u., respectively.     

Analysis of the reduction of nitroxides by flavin mononucleotide

This article describes a simle method to prepare hydroxylamines from nitroxides by photo-activated flavin mononucleotide. The half-time of reduction varied from 2 to 38.4 s for a series of nitroxides. For most nitroxides short exposures to light (min) were sufficient to produce significant amounts of hydroxylamine; longer periods of exposure increased the yields of other products. Proxyl (2,2,5-trimethyl-5-alkylpyrrolidine-N-oxy) nitroxides were unsually reactive with a much higher yield of products which could not be reoxidized by ferricyanide to the nitroxides. Optimum conditions for reversible reduction depend on the nitroxide and the amounts of other reducible substances such as oxygen and ferricyanide that may be present.     

A thermodynamic description of the self-association of flavin mononucleotide.

Systematic heat of dilution studies of the self-association of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) have been conducted as a function of ionic strength (0.05 – 2.0 m) and pH (5–9) in aqueous solution. The data are adequately described by the expression $\text{Q}{}_{\mathrm{T}}\text{= ΔH ? (}\text{ΔH}\text{K}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{(}\text{Q}{}_{\mathrm{T}}\text{c}{}_{\mathrm{T}}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ for an isodesmic self-association. Q_T is the molar heat of dilution, ΔH and K are the derived enthalpy and equilibrium constants for the process FMN + (FMN)_i?1 ? (FMN)_i, and c_T is the concentration of FMN expressed in monomer units. Typical values derived for the various thermodynamic parameters at 25 °C are ΔG = ?3.56 kcal mol^?1, ΔH = ?3.72 kcal mol^?1, and ΔS = ?0.54 cal (mol · deg)^?1. These data, plus nuclear magnetic resonance evidence (Yagi, K., Ohishi, N., Takai, A., Kawano, K., and Kyogoku, Y., 1976, Biochemistry15, 2877–2880) argue in favor of an open-ended association of flavin molecules. The signs of the various thermodynamic parameters suggest that both hydrophobic and surface energy forces contribute significantly to the association, while the lack of any significant ionic strength dependence indicates the lack of any ionic centers in the association.     

NADPH-cytochrome P-450 oxidoreductase: flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide domains evolved from different flavoproteins

The FMN-binding domain of NADPH-cytochrome P-450 oxidoreductase, residues 77-228, is homologous with bacterial flavodoxins, while the FAD-binding domain, residues 267-678, shows a high degree of similarity to two FAD-containing proteins, ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase. Comparison of these proteins to glutathione reductase, a flavoprotein whose three-dimensional structure is known, has permitted tentative identification of FAD- and cofactor-binding residues in these proteins. The remarkable conservation of sequence between NADPH-cytochrome P-450 oxidoreductase and ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase, coupled with the homology of the FMN-binding domain of the oxidoreductase with the bacterial flavodoxins, implies that NADPH-cytochrome P-450 oxidoreductase arose as a result of fusion of the ancestral genes for these two functionally linked flavoproteins.     

Production of flavin mononucleotide by metabolically engineered yeast Candida famata

Recombinant strains of the flavinogenic yeast Candida famata able to overproduce flavin mononucleotide (FMN) that contain FMN1 gene encoding riboflavin (RF) kinase driven by the strong constitutive promoter TEF1 (translation elongation factor 1α) were constructed. Transformation of these strains with the additional plasmid containing the FMN1 gene under the TEF1 promoter resulted in the 200-fold increase in the riboflavin kinase activity and 100-fold increase in FMN production as compared to the wild-type strain (last feature was found only in iron-deficient medium).Overexpression of the FMN1 gene in the mutant that has deregulated riboflavin biosynthesis pathway and high level of riboflavin production in iron-sufficient medium led to the 30-fold increase in the riboflavin kinase activity and 400-fold increase in FMN production of the resulted transformants. The obtained C. famata recombinant strains can be used for the further construction of improved FMN overproducers.     

Cofactor trapping, a new method to produce flavin mononucleotide

We have purified flavin mononucleotide (FMN) from a flavoprotein-overexpressing Escherichia coli strain by cofactor trapping. This approach uses an overexpressed flavoprotein to trap FMN, which is thus removed from the cascade regulating FMN production in E. coli. This, in turn, allows the isolation of highly pure FMN.     

Interaction of muscle glycogen phosphorylase B with flavin mononucleotide and its analogs

The inhibition of rabbit skeletal muscle glycogen phosphorylase B by FMN and its analogues with substituents in the positions 6 and 8 has been studied. Inhibiting action of FMN is manifested in reducing the limiting rate of enzymic reaction and in increasing the half-saturation concentration of AMP. The inhibitor half-saturation values (in microM) increase in the following order: FMN (13,5), 6-bromo-FMN (27), 8 alpha-hydroxy-FMN (30), 8-dimethylamino(nor)-FMN (33), 6-(N-acetyl-L-cysteine-S-yl)-FMN (44), 6-amino-FMN (96), 8-hydroxy(nor)-FMN (109), 6-nitro-FMN (170), 8 alpha-(N-acetyl-L-cysteine-S-yl)-FMN (260). The existence of the glycogen phosphorylase B complexes with FMN or its analogues has been proved by spectrophotometry and sedimentation in analytical ultracentrifuge. FMN has been shown to hinder AMP-induced transition of dimeric form of the enzyme to tetrameric one. AMP at high concentrations has been found to inhibit glycogen phosphorylase B.     

Interaction of glycogen synthase of rabbit skeletal muscles with flavin mononucleotide

The effect of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) on the activity of the I- and D-forms of rabbit skeletal muscle glycogen synthase has been studied for the first time. FMN has been shown to inhibit in a noncompetitive fashion the both forms of the enzyme, the D-form being more sensitive to the effect of the inhibitor. It has been shown also that glycogen synthase has three different sites involved in the interaction with inhibitors, namely, and active site, an adenyl nucleotide binding site and a FMN binding site. FMN binding has been shown to occur mostly via the isoalloxasine ring.     

The binding and spectral alterations of oxidized flavin mononucleotide by bacterial luciferase

The binding of oxidized flavin mononucleotide (FMN) to bacterial luciferase was studied by equilibrium dialysis. A Scatchard plot of the data indicates a single FMN binding site per luciferase molecule, with a dissociation constant of 2.4 × 10^?4 M at 2° in 0.05 M Bis-Tris, 0.2 M NaCl, pH 7.0. The visible absorbance spectrum of luciferase-bound FMN is altered considerably relative to the spectrum of free FMN. The spectrum of the bound flavin shows an apparent splitting of the 443-nm peak yielding well-defined maxima at 458 nm and 434 nm.     

A postulated mechanism for the bioluminescent oxidation of reduced flavin mononucleotide

A mechanism is presented for the luciferase catalyzed oxidation of reduced flavin mononucleotide with oxygen in the presence of long-chain aldehyde. The mechanism involves the formation of a flavin peroxy anion which attacks aldehyde. A Baeyer-Villiger type shift leads to oxidation of aldehyde to acid, and to formation of hydroxide and excited protonated flavin which emits a photon. The mechanism is consistent with known details of the bioluminescent reaction and with known reactions of flavins and allows several verifiable predictions to be made.