alpha, beta-Dihydroxyisovalerate dehydratase. A superoxide-sensitive enzyme

Increasing the intracellular flux of O-2 by incubating aerobic Escherichia coli with paraquat or plumbagin markedly lowered the alpha, beta-dihydroxyisovalerate dehydratase activity detectable in extracts from these cells. This effect was not seen in the absence of dioxygen and was exacerbated by inhibiting protein biosynthesis with chloramphenicol. These effects of paraquat and of plumbagin were both time- and concentration-dependent. Transfer of E. coli from aerobic to anaerobic conditions caused a rebound of the dehydratase activity, in the continued presence of paraquat and of chloramphenicol, indicating the presence of a mechanism for reactivating this enzyme. The instability of the dehydratase activity in cell extracts was exacerbated by selective removal of superoxide dismutase, but not of catalase, by immunoprecipitation. Addition of exogenous superoxide dismutase reversed the effect of immunoprecipitation; whereas catalase or inactive superoxide dismutase were ineffective. We conclude that the dehydratase is inactivated by O-2. This could account for the bacteriostatic effects of dioxygen and of paraquat.     

Delta-aminolevulinate dehydratase, a zinc dependent enzyme

Erythrocyte and liver tissue δ-aminolevulinate dehydratase activity was determined in rats fed a semipurified diet under controlled nutritional intake of zinc and copper. A significant decrease in enzymatic activity was observed in animals fed low zinc diet, while dietary copper had no effect. $\text{In vitro}$ addition of zinc to the erythrocyte preparations obtained from rats on low zinc diet produced a slight increase in enzymatic activity. It appears that, even though zinc may be the metal ion activator of δ-aminolevulinate dehydratase, the requirement of this metal is at the site of synthesis of this enzyme.     

Purification and characterization of a novel enzyme, L-threo-3-hydroxyaspartate dehydratase, from Pseudomonas sp. T62

L-threo-3-Hydroxyaspartate dehydratase (L-threo-3-hydroxyaspartate hydro-lyase), which exhibited specificity for L-threo-3-hydroxyaspartate (K(m)=0.74 mM, V(max)=37.5 micromol min(-1) (mg protein)(-1)) but not for D-threo or D, L-erythro-3-hydroxyaspartate, was purified from a cell-free extract of Pseudomonas sp. T62. The activity of the enzyme was inhibited by hydroxylamine and EDTA, which suggests that pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and divalent cations participate in the enzyme reaction. The NH(2)-terminal amino acid sequence showed significant similarity to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae YKL218c gene product, a hypothetical threonine dehydratase. However, the purified enzyme showed no threonine dehydratase activity.     

Purification and characterization of 3-dehydroshikimate dehydratase, an enzyme in the inducible quinic acid catabolic pathway of Neurospora crassa.

3-Dehydroshikimate dehydratase catalyzes the third reaction in the inducible quinic acid catabolic pathway of Neurospora crassa and is encoded in the qa-4 gene of the qa gene cluster. As part of continuing genetic and biochemical studies concerning the organization and regulation of this gene cluster, 3-dehydroshikimate dehydratase has been purified and characterized biochemically. The enzyme was purified 1650-fold using the following techniques: 1) (NH4)2SO4 fractionation; 2) ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose; 3) gel filtration on Sephadex G-100; 4) ion exchange chromatography on Cellex QAE (quaternary aminoethyl); and 5) hydroxylapatite chromatography. 3-Dehydroshikimate dehydratase is a monomer with a molecular weight of about 37,000 and a sedimentation coefficient of 3.27 S. It has a Km value of 5.9 X 10(-4) and an average isoelectric point of 4.92. The purified enzyme is extremely sensitive to thermal denaturation but can be significantly stabilized by Mg2+ ions. The purified enzyme also exhibits maximal catalytic activity only when assayed in the presence of certain divalent cations, e.g. magnesium. The NH2-terminal residue of 3-dehydroshikimate dehydratase is proline, and its alpha-amino group is unblocked.     

High yield synthesis of nitriles by a new enzyme, phenylacetaldoxime dehydratase, from Bacillus sp. strain OxB-1

3-Phenylpropionitrile was synthesized from Z-3-phenylpropionaldoxime (0.75 M) in a quantitative yield (98 g/l) by the use of cells of Escherichia coli JM 109/pOxD-90F, a transformant harboring a gene for a new enzyme, phenylacetaldoxime dehydratase, from Bacillus sp. strain OxB-1. Other arylalkyl- and alkyl-nitriles were also synthesized in high yields from the corresponding aldoximes. Moreover, 3-phenylpropionitrile was successfully synthesized by the recombinant cells in 70 and 100% yields from 0.1 M unpurified E/Z-3-phenylpropionaldoxime, which is spontaneously formed from 3-phenylpropionaldehyde and hydroxylamine in a butyl acetate/water biphasic system and aqueous phase, respectively.     

Synthesis of the antibiotic cortalcerone from D-glucose using pyranose 2-oxidase and a novel fungal enzyme, aldos-2-ulose dehydratase.

Using two enzymes purified from the white-rot fungus, Polyporus obtusus, 5% solutions of D-glucose have been quantitatively converted in vitro into D-arabino-hexos-2-ulose (D-glucosone) and subsequently into a compound having antimicrobial activity. The antibiotic has been shown by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy to be chemically identical to a previously described fungal metabolite known as cortalcerone. Based on kinetic analysis of the synthetic process, a pathway for the biosynthesis of cortalcerone is proposed, involving both chemical rearrangement and enzymically catalyzed steps. Two enzymes, pyranose 2-oxidase and a previously uncharacterized D-arabino-hexos-2-ulose-utilizing enzyme, may be sufficient for the biosynthesis of cortalcerone from glucose in vivo. The D-arabino-hexos-2-ulose-utilizing enzyme dehydrates certain aldosuloses and has been named aldos-2-ulose dehydratase. The enzyme, which appears to be a dimer of 95-kDa subunits, has been purified 450-fold. Additional properties of aldos-2-ulose dehydratase are described, including its apparent ability to catalyze two different steps in the proposed biosynthetic pathway for cortalcerone.     

Chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydratase from Escherichia coli: active sites of a bifunctional enzyme.

The relationship between the active sites of the bifunctional enzyme chorismate mutase-prephenate dehydratase has been examined. Steady-state kinetic investigations of the reactions with chorismate or prephenate as substrate and studies of the overall conversion of chorismate to phenylpyruvate indicate that there are two distinct active sites. One site is responsible for the mutase activity and the other for the dehydratase activity. Studies of the overall reaction using radioactive chorismate show that prephenate, which is formed from chorismate, dissociates from the mutase site and equilibrates with the bulk medium before combining at the dehydratase site. No evidence was obtained for direct channeling of prephenate from one site to the other, or for any strong interaction between the sites.     

In situ reactivation of glycerol-inactivated coenzyme B12-dependent enzymes, glycerol dehydratase and diol dehydratase.

The catalytic properties of coenzyme B12-dependent glycerol dehydratase and diol dehydratase were studied in situ with Klebsiella pneumoniae cells permeabilized by toluene treatment, since the in situ enzymes approximate the in vivo conditions of the enzymes more closely than enzymes in cell-free extracts or cell homogenates. Both dehydratases in situ underwent rapid "suicidal" inactivation by glycerol during catalysis, as they do in vitro. The inactivated dehydratases in situ, however, were rapidly and continually reactivated by adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and Mn2+ in the presence of free adenosylcobalamin, although in cell-free extracts or in cell homogenates they could not be reactivated at all under the same reaction conditions. ATP was partially replaced by cytidine 5'-triphosphate or guanosine 5'-triphosphate but not by the beta, gamma-methylene analog of ATP in the in situ reactivation. Mn2+ was fully replaced by Mg2+ but only partially by Co2+. Hydroxocoblamin could not replace adenosylcobalamin in reactivation mixtures. The ability to reactivate the glycerol-inactivated dehydratases in situ was only seen in cells grown anaerobically in glycerol-containing media. This suggests that some factor(s) required for in situ reactivation is subject to induction by glycerol. Of the two possible mechanisms of in situ reactivation, i.e., the regeneration of adenosylcobalamin by Co-adenosylation of the bound inactivated coenzyme moiety (B12-adenosylation mechanism) and the displacement of the bound inactivated coenzyme moiety by free adenosyl-cobalamin (B12-exchange mechanism), the former seems very unlikely from the experimental results.     

Immunochemical evidence for the difference between coenzyme-B12-dependent diol dehydratase and glycerol dehydratase.

Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 25955 (formerly named Aerobacter aerogenes PZH 572, Warsaw), which is known to produce coenzyme-B12-dependent glycerol dehydratase when grown anaerobically in a glycerol medium, formed coenzyme-B12-dependent diol dehydratase in a 1,2-propanediol-containing medium. Both the diol dehydratase and the glycerol dehydratase produced by the organism catalyzed the conversion of glycerol, 1,2-propanediol and 1,2-ethanediol to the corresponding aldehydes and underwent concomitant inactivation during the catalysis of glycerol dehydration, as does the diol dehydratase of K. pneumoniae (A. aerogenes) ATCC 8724. However, the two enzymes were distinguishable from each other by the monovalent-cation-selectivity pattern and by substrate specificity; that is, glycerol dehydratase preferred glycerol to 1,2-propanediol as a substrate, whereas diol dehydratase preferred 1,2-propanediol to glycerol, as judged from initial velocity studies. Ouchterlony double-diffusion analysis and immunochemical titration with rabbit antiserum against diol dehydratase of K. pneumoniae ATCC 8724 established clearly that the diol dehydratase of K. pneumoniae ATCC 25955 is immunologically similar to that of K. pneumoniae ATCC 8724, while the glycerol dehydratase of the former is different from the diol dehydratase of both strains. Both the enzymes were found to be distributed in several bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae.     

Evolution of biosynthetic pathways: a common ancestor for threonine synthase, threonine dehydratase and D-serine dehydratase.

The Bacillus subtilis genes encoding threonine synthase (thrC) and homoserine kinase (thrB) have been cloned via complementation of Escherichia coli thr mutants. Determination of their nucleotide sequences indicates that the thrC stop codon overlaps the thrB start codon; this genetic organization suggests that the two genes belong to the same operon, as in E. coli. However, the gene order is thrC-thrB in B. subtilis whereas it is thrB-thrC in the thr operon of E. coli. This inversion of the thrC and thrB genes between E. coli and B. subtilis is indicative of a possible independent construction of the thr operon in these two organisms. In other respects, comparison of the predicted amino acid sequences of the B. subtilis and E. coli threonine synthases with that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae threonine dehydratase and that of E. coli D-serine dehydratase revealed extensive homologies between these pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzymes. This sequence homology, which correlates with similarities in the catalytic mechanisms of these enzymes, indicates that these proteins, catalyzing different reactions in different metabolic pathways, may have evolved from a common ancestor.     

5-Aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase: structure, function, and mechanism.

delta-Aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase catalyses the synthesis of porphobilinogen. The enzyme has a molecular mass of 285000 and is composed of eight similar subunits of molecular mass 35000. The N-terminal amino acid is acylated, and the number of peptides found on tryptic digestion equals the number of lysine and arginine residues per mass of 35000. The eight subunits are apparently arranged at the corners of a cube and therefore have dihedral (D4) symmetry. The bovine liver enzyme which has been cystallized contains 4--6 atoms of zinc per mole of enzyme. The apo-enzyme obtained on prolonged hydrolysis can be reactivated by the addition of zinc or cadmium ions. The dialysed enzyme must be first treated with dithiothreitol. There are two very active SH groups in a total of 6--7-SH groups per subunit. The substrate forms a Schiff base with the epsilon-amino group of a lysine residue. Reduction of the Schiff base with NaBH4 should reveal the number of active sites per mole of enzyme. It appears that only four of the eight subunits form a Schiff base with the substrate indicating that the enzyme exhibits the phenomenon of either half-site reactivity or negative cooperativity. The enzyme appears to have a strong subunit-subunit interaction for an immobilized preparation remained stable for at least a month. An immobilized enzyme preparation was treated in a manner so that it dissociated into tetramers. Both the eluate and protein still attached to the Sepharose on a column were enzymically active. The bound enzyme could not reassociate under assay conditions but still contained about 50% of the original enzyme activity. It would seem that the enzyme is active when composed with less than eight subunits.     

Ether-cleaving enzyme and diol dehydratase involved in anaerobic polyethylene glycol degradation by a new Acetobacterium sp.

A strictly anaerobic, homoacetogenic bacterium was enriched and isolated from anoxic sewage sludge with polyethylene glycol (PEG) 1000 as sole source of carbon and energy, and was assigned to the genus Acetobacterium on the basis of morphological and physiological properties. The new isolate fermented ethylene glycol and PEG's with molecular masses of 106 to 1000 to acetate and small amounts of ethanol. The PEG-degrading activity was not destroyed by proteinase K treatment of whole cells. In cell-free extracts, a diol dehydratase and a PEG-degrading (ether-cleaving) enzyme activity were detected which both formed acetaldehyde as reaction product. The diol dehydratase enzyme was oxygen-sensitive and was stimulated 10–14 fold by added adenosylcobalamine. This enzyme was found mainly in the cytoplasmic fraction (65%) and to some extent (35%) in the membrane fraction. The ether-cleaving enzyme activity reacted with PEG's of molecular masses of 106 to more than 20000. The enzyme was measurable optimally in buffers of high ionic strength (4.0), was extremely oxygen-sensitive, and was inhibited by various corrinoids (adenosylcobalamine, cyanocobalamine, hydroxocobalamine, methylcobalamine). This enzyme was found exclusively in the cytoplasmic fraction. It is concluded that PEG is degraded by this bacterium inside the cytoplasm by a hydroxyl shift reaction, analogous to a diol dehydratase reaction, to form an unstable hemiacetal intermediate. The name polyethylene glycol acetaldehyde lyase is suggested for the responsible enzyme.Abbreviations EG ethylene glycol - DiEG diethylene glycol - TriEG triethylene glycol - TeEG tetraethylene glycol - PEG polyethylene glycol (molecular mass indicated)     

L-(+)-Tartrate dehydratase from Pseudomonas putida is an iron-sulphur enzyme

The enzyme L-(+)-tartrate dehydratase has been isolated from extracts of Pseudomonas putida by a one-step procedure involving dye-ligand chromatography. The enzyme loses activity rapidly in the absence of Fe²⁺; concentrated solutions have a brown colour typical of iron-sulphur proteins. Analysis of iron and acid-labile sulphide indicated 3–5 atoms of each per molecule of 100 kDa. The enzyme's structure consists of four subunits, two each of 23 and 27 kDa.     

Stereoselectivity and stereospecificity of the alpha,beta-dihydroxyacid dehydratase from Salmonella typhimurium.

1. In addition to the known 2R,3R- and 2R, 3S-2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylpentanoic acids (DHI), the 1S,3S- and sS,DR-isomers were prepared. 2S-2,3-Dihydroxy-3-methylbutanoic acid (DHV) was also prepared in addition to the known 2R-isomer. 2. The six dihydroxy acids were examined for their ability to promote the growth of isoleucine-valine (ilv)-requiring strains of Salmonella typhimurium and to serve as substrates for the alpha,beta-dihydroxyacid dehydratase of the same organism. 3. Only 2R,3R-2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylpentanoic and 2R-2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylbutanoic acids supported growth of the ilv strains of S. typhimurium. 4. alpha,beta-Dihydroxyacid dehydratase utilized the three isomers with the 2R-configuration as substrates but not those with the 2S-configuration. 5. In an additional growth study that utilized the 3R- and 3S-isomers of 3-methyl-2-oxopentanoic acid, the alpha-keto acid analogue of isoleucine, only the 3S-isomer supported growth. 6. It is concluded that the mechanism of action of the dehydratase is stereospecific in that the proton that is attached to C-3 of the substrate occupies the same steriochemical position as the departing hydroxyl group (Fig. 6).     

Allosteric interactions in glycerol dehydratase. Purification of enzyme and effects of positive and negative cooperativity for glycerol

An improved method for the purification of the apoenzyme (AB complex) of glycerol dehydratase from Aerobacter aerogenes is presented. One hundredfold purification Was achieved. This purification was possible due to stabilization of the AB complex by glycerol. Using chromatography on Sephadex G-200, the highest degree of association of AB complex was found in glycine buffer in the presence of glycerol.Potassium ions, in contrast to glycerol, seem to weaken the forces which bind subunits A and B together. This may be the action of potassium necessary for the performance of glycerol dehydratase activity, since potassium is required for holoenzyme activity.From kinetic studies it appears that the enzyme exhibits homotrophic effects with regard to glycerol binding sites, which can he extended from positive (in the presence of glycine buffer) to negative (in the presence of ethanolamine buffer) cooperativity. The high cooperativity between glycerol binding sites on the enzyme, in glycine buffer, can be abolished by the addition of phosphate. By decreasing the value of the Hill coefficient and increasing the V of the enzymatic reaction, phosphate seems to act as an allosteric activator.     

Stereochemistry and mechanism of the GDP-mannose dehydratase reaction.

The reaction catalyzed by bacterial GDP-mannose dehydratase (E.C. 4.2.1.47), the conversion of GDP-D-mannose to GDP-4-keto-6-deoxymannose (GDP-6-deoxy-D-lyxo-hexos-4-ulose), was studied with (6R)- and (6S)-GDP-D-[4-2H1,6-3H]mannose. Conversion of these stereospecifically labeled substrates in the presence of excess unlabeled GDP-mannose into the 4-keto-6-deoxy derivatives followed by Kuhn-Roth oxidation gave acetic acid samples which were subjected to configurational analysis of the isotopically chiral methyl group. The observed F values of 64 for the material from the (6S) substrate and 31 for that from the (6R) isomer, corresponding to 48% e.e. R and 66% e.e. S configuration, respectively, of the methyl group indicate that (a) the oxidoreductase reaction involves transfer of H-4 to C-6, (b) the transfer is predominantly intramolecular, and (c) the transfer is stereospecific, H-4 replacing the C-6 hydroxyl group with inversion of configuration. A mechanism for the reaction is proposed on the basis of these results.