Purification of a ccb-type quinol oxidase specifically induced in a deep-sea barophilic bacterium, Shewanella sp. strain DB-172F

We investigated for the first time the respiratory chain system of a deep-sea barophilic bacterium, Shewanella sp. strain DB-172F. A membrane-bound ccb-type quinol oxidase, from cells grown at 60 MPa pressure, was purified to an electrophoretically homogeneous state. The purified enzyme complex consisted of four kinds of subunits with molecular masses of 98, 66, 18.5, and 15 kDa, and it contained 0.96 mol of protoheme and 1.95 mol of covalently bound heme c per mol of enzyme. Only protoheme in the enzyme reacted with CO and CN⁻, and the catalytic activity of the enzyme was 50% inhibited by 4 μM CN⁻. The isoelectric point of the native enzyme complex was determined to be 5.0. This enzyme was specifically induced only under conditions of elevated hydrostatic pressure, and high levels were expressed in cells grown at 60 MPa. The membranes isolated from cells grown at atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa) exhibited high levels of both cytochrome c oxidase and N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPDH2)-oxidase activity. These results suggest the presence of two kinds of respiratory chains regulated in response to pressure in the deep-sea bacterium DB-172F. Received: November 25, 1997 / Accepted: December 25, 1997