Biomedical subjects

Michihiko Kobayashi

Publications and source records attributed to Michihiko Kobayashi.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Discovery of a reaction intermediate of aliphatic aldoxime dehydratase involving heme as an active center.

Recently, we discovered an intriguing hemoprotein [aliphatic aldoxime dehydratase (OxdA)] that catalyzes the dehydration of aliphatic aldoximes [R-CH=N-OH] to the corresponding nitriles [R-C identical withN] in the industrial Pseudomonas chlororaphis B23 strain. Unlike the utilization of H(2)O(2) or O(2) as a mediator of the catalysis by other heme-containing enzymes (e.g., P450), OxdA is notable for the direct binding of a substrate to the heme iron, experimental evidence of which was obtained here by means of resonance Raman (RR) analysis with an isotope technique. We found that the addition of a large amount of butyraldoxime (final concentration, 200 mM) to ferrous OxdA with a low enzyme concentration (final concentration, 5 muM) yields a long-lived OxdA-substrate complex (named OS-II), whose UV-vis spectrum is different from the corresponding spectra of the OxdA-substrate complex I and CO-bound, ferrous, and ferric forms of OxdA. Intriguingly, the RR analysis demonstrated that OS-II includes a highly oxidized heme with strong bonding between a substrate and the heme iron, as judged from the heme oxidation state marker nu(4) band at 1,379 cm(-1) and the (15)N-isotope-substituted butyraldoxime sensitive band at 857 cm(-1) in the RR spectra. It is noteworthy that OS-II has a highly oxidized heme like the ferryl-oxo heme species (e.g., compound II) formed by some general hemoproteins, although the function of OxdA is different from those (transport of electrons, transport of oxygen, sensing of oxygen or carbon monoxide, and catalysis of redox reactions) of general hemoproteins.

Binding Sites↗

PubMed2005

Stopped-flow spectrophotometric and resonance Raman analyses of aldoxime dehydratase involved in carbon-nitrogen triple bond synthesis.

On stopped-flow analysis of aliphatic aldoxime dehydratase (OxdA), a novel hemoprotein, a spectrum derived from a reaction intermediate was detected on mixing ferrous OxdA with butyraldoxime; it gradually changed into that of ferrous OxdA with an isosbestic point at 421 nm. The spectral change on the addition of butyraldoxime to the ferrous H320A mutant showed the formation of a substrate-coordinated mutant, the absorption spectrum of which closely resembled that of the above intermediate. These observations and the resonance Raman investigation revealed that the substrate actually binds to the heme in OxdA, forming a hexa-coordinate low-spin heme.

Carbon↗

PubMed2005

Nitrile pathway involving acyl-CoA synthetase: overall metabolic gene organization and purification and characterization of the enzyme.

Two open reading frames (nhpS and acsA) were identified immediately downstream of the previously described Pseudomonas chlororaphis B23 nitrile hydratase (NHase) gene cluster (encoding aldoxime dehydratase, amidase, the two NHase subunits, and an uncharacterized protein). The amino acid sequence deduced from acsA shows similarity to that of acyl-CoA synthetase (AcsA). The acsA gene product expressed in Escherichia coli showed acyl-CoA synthetase activity toward butyric acid and CoA as substrates, with butyryl-CoA being synthesized. From the E. coli transformant, AcsA was purified to homogeneity and characterized. The quality of the recombinant protein was verified by the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence and the results of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The apparent Km values for butyric acid, CoA, and ATP were 0.32 +/- 0.04, 0.37 +/- 0.02, and 0.22 +/- 0.02 mm, respectively. AcsA was shown to be a short-chain acyl-CoA synthetase, according to the catalytic efficiencies (kcat/Km) for various acids. The substrate specificity of AcsA was similar to those of aldoxime dehydratase, NHase, and amidase, the genes of which coexist in the same orientation in the gene cluster. P. chlororaphis B23 grew when cultured in a medium containing butyraldoxime as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. The activities of aldoxime dehydratase, NHase, and amidase were detected together with that of acyl-CoA synthetase under the culture conditions used. Moreover, on culture in a medium containing butyric acid as the sole carbon source, acyl-CoA synthetase activity was also detected. Together with the adjacent locations of the aldoxime dehydratase, NHase, amidase, and acyl-CoA synthetase genes, these findings suggest that the four enzymes are sequentially correlated with one another in vivo to utilize butyraldoxime as a carbon and nitrogen source. This is the first report of an overall "nitrile pathway" (aldoxime-->nitrile-->amide-->acid-->acyl-CoA) comprising these enzymes.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2005

High-level expression of a novel amine-synthesizing enzyme, N-substituted formamide deformylase, in Streptomyces with a strong protein expression system.

N-substituted formamide deformylase (NfdA) from Arthrobacter pascens F164 is a novel deformylase involved in the metabolism of isonitriles. The enzyme catalyzes the deformylation of an N-substituted formamide, which is produced from the corresponding isonitrile, to yield the corresponding amine and formate. The nfdA gene from A. pascens F164 was cloned into different types of expression vectors for Escherichia coli and Streptomyces strains. Expression in E. coli resulted in the accumulation of an insoluble protein. However, Streptomyces strains transformed with a P(nitA)-NitR system, which we very recently developed as a regulatory gene expression system for streptomycetes, allowed the heterologous overproduction of NfdA in an active form. When Streptomyces lividans TK24 transformed with pSH19-nfdA was cultured under the optimum conditions, the NfdA activity of the cell-free extract amounted to 8.5 U/mg, which was 29-fold higher than that of A. pascens F164. The enzyme also comprised approximately 20% of the total extractable cellular protein. The recombinant enzyme was purified to homogeneity and characterized. The expression system established here will allow structural analysis and mutagenesis studies of NfdA.

Amidohydrolases↗

PubMed2005

Optimum culture conditions for the production of N-substituted formamide deformylase by Arthrobacter pascens F164.

We investigated the optimum culture conditions for the production of a novel enzyme, N-substituted formamide deformylase, which acts mainly on N-benzylformamide, in Arthrobacter pascens F164. The highest enzyme activity was obtained when this strain F164 was cultivated in a synthetic medium with N-benzylformamide as sole nitrogen source. This deformylase was found to be an inducible enzyme depending on N-benzylformamide.

Amidohydrolases↗

PubMed2004

Hyper-inducible expression system for streptomycetes.

Streptomycetes produce useful enzymes and a wide variety of secondary metabolites with potent biological activities (e.g., antibiotics, immunosuppressors, pesticides, etc.). Despite their importance in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical fields, there have been no reports for practical expression systems in streptomycetes. Here, we developed a "P(nitA)-NitR" system for regulatory gene expression in streptomycetes based on the expression mechanism of Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 nitrilase, which is highly induced by an inexpensive and safe inducer, epsilon-caprolactam. Heterologous protein expression experiments demonstrated that the system allowed suppressed basal expression and hyper-inducible expression, yielding target protein levels of as high as approximately 40% of all soluble protein. Furthermore, the system functioned in important streptomycete strains. Thus, the P(nitA)-NitR system should be a powerful tool for improving the productivity of various useful products in streptomycetes.

Aminohydrolases↗

PubMed2004

Amine-synthesizing enzyme N-substituted formamide deformylase: screening, purification, characterization, and gene cloning.

N-substituted formamide was produced through the hydration of an isonitrile by isonitrile hydratase in the isonitrile metabolism. The former compound was further degraded by a microorganism, strain F164, which was isolated from soil through an acclimatization culture. The N-substituted formamide-degrading microorganism was identified as Arthrobacter pascens. The microbial degradation was found to proceed through an enzymatic reaction, the N-substituted formamide being hydrolyzed to yield the corresponding amine and formate. The enzyme, designated as N-substituted formamide deformylase (NfdA), was purified and characterized. The native enzyme had a molecular mass of approximately 61 kDa and consisted of two identical subunits. It stoichiometrically catalyzed the hydrolysis of N-benzylformamide (an N-substituted formamide) to benzylamine and formate. Of all of the N-substituted formamides tested, N-benzylformamide was the most suitable substrate for the enzyme. However, no amides were accepted as substrates. The gene (nfdA) encoding this enzyme was also cloned. The deduced amino acid sequence of nfdA exhibited the highest overall sequence identity (28%) with those of regulatory proteins among known proteins. Only the N-terminal region (residues 58-72) of NfdA also showed significant sequence identity (27-73%) to that of each member of the amidohydrolase superfamily, although there was no similarity in the overall sequence except in the above limited region.

Amidohydrolases↗

PubMed2004

Identification of crucial histidines involved in carbon-nitrogen triple bond synthesis by aldoxime dehydratase.

Aldoxime dehydratase (OxdA), which is a novel heme protein, catalyzes the dehydration of an aldoxime to a nitrile even in the presence of water in the reaction mixture. The combination of site-directed mutagenesis of OxdA (mutation of all conserved histidines in the aldoxime dehydratase superfamily), estimation of the heme contents and specific activities of the mutants, and CD and resonance Raman spectroscopic analyses led to the identification of the proximal and distal histidines in this unique enzyme. The heme contents and CD spectra in the far-UV region of all mutants except for the H299A one were almost identical to those of the wild-type OxdA, whereas the H299A mutant lost the ability of binding heme, demonstrating that His(299) is the proximal histidine. On the other hand, substitution of alanine for His(320) did not affect the overall structure of OxdA but caused loss of its ability of carbon-nitrogen triple bond synthesis and a lower shift of the Fe-C stretching band in the resonance Raman spectrum for the CO-bound form. Furthermore, the pH dependence of the wild-type OxdA closely followed the His protonation curves observed for other proteins. These findings suggest that His(320) is located in the distal heme pocket of OxdA and would donate a proton to the substrate in the aldoxime dehydration mechanism.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2004

Heme environment in aldoxime dehydratase involved in carbon-nitrogen triple bond synthesis.

Resonance Raman spectra have been measured to characterize the heme environment in aldoxime dehydratase (OxdA), a novel hemoprotein, which catalyzes the dehydration of aldoxime into nitrile. The spectra showed that the ferric heme in the enzyme is six-coordinate low spin, whereas the ferrous heme is five-coordinate high spin. We assign a prominent vibration that occurs at 226 cm(-1) in the ferrous enzyme to the Fe-proximal histidine stretching vibration. In the CO-bound form of OxdA, the correlation between the Fe-CO stretching (512 cm(-1)) and C-O stretching (1950 cm(-1)) frequencies also supports our assignment of proximal histidine coordination.

Carbon↗

PubMed2003

Novel aldoxime dehydratase involved in carbon-nitrogen triple bond synthesis of Pseudomonas chlororaphis B23. Sequencing, gene expression, purification, and characterization.

Analysis of the nitrile hydratase gene cluster involved in nitrile metabolism of Pseudomonas chlororaphis B23 revealed that it contains one open reading frame encoding aldoxime dehydratase upstream of the amidase gene. The amino acid sequence deduced from this open reading frame shows similarity (32% identity) with that of Bacillus phenylacetaldoxime dehydratase (Kato, Y., Nakamura, K., Sakiyama, H., Mayhew, S. G., and Asano, Y. (2000) Biochemistry 39, 800-809). The gene product expressed in Escherichia coli catalyzed the dehydration of aldoxime into nitrile. The Pseudomonas aldoxime dehydratase (OxdA) was purified from the E. coli transformant and characterized. OxdA shows an absorption spectrum with a Soret peak that is characteristic of heme, demonstrating that it is a hemoprotein. For its activity, this enzyme required a reducing reagent, Na2S2O4, but did not require FMN, which is crucial for the Bacillus enzyme. The enzymatic reaction was found to be catalyzed when the heme iron of the enzyme was in the ferrous state. Calcium as well as iron was included in the enzyme. OxdA reduced by Na2S2O4 had a molecular mass of 76.2 kDa and consisted of two identical subunits. The kinetic parameters of OxdA indicated that aliphatic aldoximes are more effective substrates than aromatic aldoximes. A variety of spectral shifts in the absorption spectra of OxdA were observed upon the addition of each of various compounds (i.e. redox reagents and heme ligands). Moreover, the addition of the substrate to OxdA gave a peak that would be derived from the intermediate in the nitrile synthetic reaction. P. chlororaphis B23 grew and showed the OxdA activity when cultured in a medium containing aldoxime as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. Together with these findings, Western blotting analysis of the extracts using anti-OxdA antiserum revealed that OxdA is responsible for the metabolism of aldoxime in vivo in this strain.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2003

A novel lipase from Pseudomonas fluorescens HU380: gene cloning, overproduction, renaturation-activation, two-step purification, and characterization.

The extracellular lipase gene (lipA) from Pseudomonas fluorescens HU380 was cloned from a genomic library constructed in pBluescript SK+. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame of 1854 by encoding the lipase. Its deduced amino acid sequence included internal amino acid sequences of the lipase from this strain: The lipase showed significant sequence similarity to lipases of Serratia marcescens strains and P. fluorescens strains. In Escherichia coli, lipA was expressed in the form of inclusion bodies, which were subsequently solubilized by urea followed by dialysis. The refolded protein was soluble and biologically active. The lipase purified from the E. coli transformant by this denaturation-renaturation procedure followed by only two steps of column chromatographs exhibited the same electrophoretic mobility as did the enzyme purified from P. fluorescens HU380, and both enzymes were quite similar in physicochemical properties such as specific activity, suggesting that the recombinant lipase protein has an intrinsic folding capability in vitro. The function of its C-terminal region is also discussed.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Purification, characterization and gene cloning of thermostable O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase forming beta-cyano-L-alanine.

A thermophilic and cyanide ion-tolerant bacterium, Bacillus stearothermophilus CN3 isolated from a hot spring in Japan, was found to produce thermostable beta-cyano-L-alanine synthase. The enzyme catalyzes the synthesis of beta-cyano-L-alanine from O-acetyl-L-serine and cyanide ions. The purified enzyme has a molecular mass of approximately 70 kDa and consists of two identical subunits. It was stable in the pH range of 6.0 to 10.0 and up to 70 degrees C. The enzyme also catalyzes the synthesis of various beta-substituted-L-alanine derivatives from O-acetyl-L-serine and nucleophilic reagents. The gene encoding the beta-cyano-L-alanine synthase was isolated from B. stearothermophilus CN3. Sequence homology analysis revealed that the beta-cyano-L-alanine synthase of the bacterium is O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase. A recombinant plasmid, constructed by ligation of the cloned gene and an expression vector, pKK223-3, was introduced into E. coli JM109. The transformed E. coli cells overexpressed beta-cyano-L-alanine synthase. Heat stable beta-cyano-L-alanine synthase can be applied to the synthesis of [4-11C]l-2,4-diaminobutyric acid as a tracer for positron emission tomography.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Purification, characterization and gene cloning of thermostable O-acetyl-L-homoserine sulfhydrylase forming gamma-cyano-alpha-aminobutyric acid.

A thermophilic and cyanide ion-tolerant bacterium, Bacillus stearothermophilus CN3 isolated from a hot spring in Japan, was found to produce thermostable gamma-cyano-alpha-aminobutyric acid synthase. The enzyme was purified and characterized. The purified enzyme has a molecular mass of approximately 180 kDa and consists of four identical subunits. It was stable in the pH range of 6.0 to 10.5 and up to 60 degrees C. The enzyme catalyzed the gamma-replacement reaction of O-acetyl-L-homo-serine with cyanide ions. The gene encoding the gamma-cyano-alpha-aminobutyric acid synthase was isolated from B. stearothermophilus CN3. Sequence homology analysis revealed that the gamma-cyano-alpha-aminobutyric acid synthase from the bacterium is O-acetyl-L-homoserine sulfhydrylase. A recombinant plasmid, constructed by ligation of the cloned gene and an expression vector, was introduced into Escherichia coli JM109. The transformed E. coli cells overexpressed gamma-cyano-alpha-aminobutyric acid synthase. The heat stable gamma-cyano-alpha-aminobutyric acid synthase can be applied to the synthesis of [5-11C]L-glutamic acid used as a tracer for positron emission tomography.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

Isonitrile hydratase from Pseudomonas putida N19-2. Cloning, sequencing, gene expression, and identification of its active acid residue.

Isonitrile hydratase is a novel enzyme in Pseudomonas putida N19-2 that catalyzes the conversion of isonitriles to N-substituted formamides. Based on N-terminal and internal amino acid sequences, a 535-bp DNA fragment corresponding to a portion of the isonitrile hydratase gene was amplified, which was used as a probe to clone a 6.4-kb DNA fragment containing the whole gene. Sequence analysis of the 6.4-kb fragment revealed that the isonitrile hydratase gene (inhA) was 684 nucleotides long and encoded a protein with a molecular mass of 24,211 Da. Overexpression of inhA in Escherichia coli gave a large amount of soluble isonitrile hydratase exhibiting the same molecular and catalytic properties as the native enzyme from the Pseudomonas strain. The predicted amino acid sequence of inhA showed low similarity to that of an intracellular protease in Pyrococcus horikoshii (PH1704), and an active cysteine residue in the protease was conserved in the isonitrile hydratase at the corresponding position (Cys-101). A mutant enzyme containing Ala instead of Cys-101 did not exhibit isonitrile hydratase activity at all, demonstrating the essential role of this residue in the catalytic function.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Site-directed mutagenesis for cysteine residues of cobalt-containing nitrile hydratase.

Three cysteine residues, which are completely conserved among alpha-subunits in all nitrile hydratases, are thought to be the ligands of a metal ion in the catalytic center of this enzyme. These cysteine residues (i.e. alpha C102, alpha C105 and alpha C107) in the high-molecular-mass nitrile hydratase (H-NHase) of Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 were replaced with alanine by site-directed mutagenesis using the R. rhodochrous ATCC12674 host-vector system, and the resultant transformants were investigated. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) for the cell-free extracts of each mutant transformant revealed that four mutant transformants (i.e. alpha C105A, alpha C107A, alpha C102A/C105A and alpha C105A/C107A) showed predominant alpha- and beta-subunit protein bands with a mobility identical to those of the native H-NHase, while three mutant transformants (i.e. alpha C102A, alpha C102A/C107A and alpha C102A/C105A/C107A) did not produce the corresponding proteins. The purified former four mutant enzymes showed neither enzymatic activity nor the maximum absorption at 410 nm which was detected in the wild type H-NHase. They also did not contain cobalt ions. Based upon these findings, these three cysteine residues were found to be essential for the active expression of H-NHase.

Amino Acid Sequence↗