Production of L-DOPA and dopamine in recombinant bacteria bearing the Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene |
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Authors: | Asli Giray Kurt Emel Aytan Ufuk Ozer Burhan Ates Hikmet Geckil Professor |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Biology, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey;2. Department of Biology, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey University of South Carolina, Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia, SC 29208, USA;3. Department of Chemistry, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey |
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Abstract: | Given the well-established beneficial effects of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) on heterologous organisms, the potential of this protein for the production of L -DOPA and dopamine in two bacteria, Citrobacter freundii and Erwinia herbicola, was investigated. The constructed recombinants bearing the VHb gene (vgb+) had substantially higher levels of cytoplasmic L -DOPA (112 mg/L for C. freundii and 97 mg/L for E. herbicola) than their respective hosts (30.4 and 33.8 mg/L) and the vgb– control strains (35.6 and 35.8 mg/L). Further, the vgb+ recombinants of C. freundii and E. herbicola had 20-fold and about two orders of magnitude higher dopamine levels than their hosts, repectively. The activity of tyrosine phenol-lyase, the enzyme converting L -tyrosine to L -DOPA, was well-correlated to cytoplasmic L -DOPA levels. As cultures aged, higher tyrosine phenol-lyase activity of the vgb+ strains was more apparent. |
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Keywords: | L-DOPA Dopamine Erwinia herbicola Tyrosine phenol-lyase Vitreoscilla hemoglobin |
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