scholarly journals Purification and properties of the methane mono-oxygenase enzyme system from Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b

1977 ◽  
Vol 161 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
G M Tonge ◽  
D E F Harrison ◽  
I J Higgins

1. A three-component enzyme system that catalyses the oxidation of methane to methanol has been highly purified from Methylosinus trichosporium. 2. The components are (i) a soluble CO-binding cytochrome c, (ii) a copper-containing protein and (iii) a small protein; the mol. wts. are 13 000, 47 000 and 9400 respectively. The cytochrome component cannot be replaced by similar cytochrome purified from Pseudomonas extorquens or by horse heart cytochrome c. 3. The stoicheiometry suggests a mono-oxygenase mechanism and the specific activity with methane as substrate is 6 micronmol/min per mg of protein. 4. Other substrates rapidly oxidized are ethane, n-propane, n-butane and CO. Dimethyl ether is not a substrate. 5. The purified enzyme system utilizes ascorbate or, in the presence of partially purified M. trichosporium methanol dehydrogenase, methanol as electron donor but not NADH or NADPH. 6. Activity is highly sensitive to low concentrations of a variety of chelating agents, cyanide, 2-mercaptoethanol and dithiothreitol. 7. Activity is highly pH-dependent (optimum 6.9-7.0) and no component of the enzyme is stable to freezing. 8. The soluble CO-binding cytochrome c shows oxidase acitivity and the relationship between this and the oxygenase activity is discussed.

1977 ◽  
Vol 161 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
C W Bamforth ◽  
P J Large

1. Extracts of amine-grown Pseudomonas aminovorans contained a particle-bound N-methylglutamate dehydrogenase (EC 1.5.99.5). The enzyme was not present in succinate-grown cells, and activity appeared before growth began in succinate-grown cells which had been transferred to methylamine growth medium. 2. Membrane-containing preparations from methylamine-grown cells catalysed an N-methylglutamate-dependent uptake of O2 or reduction of cytochrome c, which was sensitive to inhibitors of the electron-transport chain. 3. N-Methylglutamate dehydrogenase activity with phenazine methosulphate or 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol as electron acceptor could be solubilized with 1% (w/v) Triton X-100. The solubilized enzyme was much less active with cytochrome c as electron acceptor and did not sediment in 1 h at 150000g. Solubilization was accompanied by a change in the pH optimum for activity. 4. The solubilized enzyme was partially purified by Sepharose 4B and hydroxyapatite chromatograpy to yield a preparation 22-fold increased in specific activity over the crude extract. 5. The partially-purified enzyme was active with sarcosine, N-methylalanine and N-methylaspartate as well as with N-methylglutamate. Evidence suggesting activity with N-methyl D-amino acids as well as with the L-forms was obtained. 6. The enzyme was inhibited by p-chloromercuribenzoate, iodoacetamide and by both ionic and non-ionic detergents. 2-Oxoglutarate and formaldehyde were also inhibitors. 7. Kinetic analysis confirmed previous workers' observations of a group transfer (Ping Pong) mechanism. 8. Spectral observations suggested that the partially purified preparation contained flavoprotein and a b-type cytochrome. 9. The role of the enzyme in the oxidation of methylamine is discussed.


1994 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 816-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. W. Chan ◽  
Isamu Suzuki

The oxidation of thiosulfate by Thiobacillus thiooxidans grown on sulfur was studied in cells, cell-free extracts, and a thiosulfate-oxidizing enzyme system. Thiosulfate was oxidized to tetrathionate by cells treated with N-ethylmaleimide with a pH optimum at 2.3. The cell-free extracts also oxidized thiosulfate with the same pH optimum and O2 consumption. Untreated cells, on the other hand, oxidized thiosulfate to sulfite in the presence of 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide, an inhibitor of sulfite oxidation. The cells treated with N-ethylmaleimide showed two Km values for thiosulfate while the cell-free system showed only one Km. The Km value for thiosulfate generally increased with the increasing pH. A soluble thiosulfate-oxidizing enzyme system was extracted from the cells at pH 2.5 in the presence of 1 M ammonium sulfate by passage through a French pressure cell. The system contained a native cytochrome c that was reduced by thiosulfate at pH 2.5 and a thiosulfate-ferricyanide oxidoreductase activity with a pH optimum around 2.0. The acidic extract also contained a component that reduced horse heart cytochrome c at a neutral pH. The reduction at an acidic pH required sulfite.Key words: thiosulfate oxidation, Thiobacillus thiooxidans, tetrathionate, sulfite.


1991 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 478-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquin F. Perez-Benito ◽  
Conchita Arias

The reaction between horse-heart cytochrome c and ascorbic acid has been investigated in the pH range 5.5 – 7.1 and at 10.0 – 25.0 °C. The rate shows a first-order dependence on the concentration of cytochrome c, it increases in a non-linear way as the concentration of ascorbic acid increases, it increases markedly with increasing pH and, provided that the ionic strength of the medium is high enough, it fulfills the Arrhenius equation. The apparent activation energy increases as the pH of the solution increases. The results have been explained by means of a mechanism that includes the existence of an equilibrium between two forms (acidic and basic) of oxidized cytochrome c: cyt-H+ -Fe3+ + OH- cyt -Fe3+ + H2O, whose equilibrium constant is (6.7 ± 1.4). 108 at 25.0 °C, the acidic form being more reducible than the basic one. It is suggested that there is a linkage of hydrogenascorbate ion to both forms of cytochrome c previous to the redox reactions. Two possibilities for the oxidant-reductant linkage (binding and adsorption) are discussed in detail.


1979 ◽  
Vol 34 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 721-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Großmann ◽  
Manfred Liefländer

Abstract Acetylcholinesterase was released from bovine erythrocytes by Triton X-100 treatment and pu­rified by twofold affinity chromatography. The detergentfree enzyme was obtained with a specific activity of 4130 U /mg (303 000-fold purification) and a 25% yield. Alternatively, the commercial available crude enzyme was purified. The latter preparation has an uniform molecular weight (Mr 175 000). The Triton-solubilized enzyme, however, can be resolved after removal of the detergent in eight multiple forms (Mr 175 000 and multiple values), in the presence of Triton there exists only one form (Mr 338 000). The amino acid composition of the two enzyme preparations differs significantly. No differences were observed with respect to other properties: SDS gel electrophore­sis revealed two protein bands (Mr 166 000 and 86 000) with both preparations. The enzyme is a glycoprotein with a pI value of 4.3 and contains strongly bound phosphatidylethanolamine. The N-terminal amino acid has been found to be Glu (or Gin).


1982 ◽  
Vol 201 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
G W Pettigrew ◽  
S Seilman

Cytochrome c (horse heart) was covalently linked to yeast cytochrome c peroxidase by using the cleavable bifunctional reagent dithiobis-succinimidyl propionate in 5 mM-sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. A cross-linked complex of molecular weight 48 000 was purified in approx. 10% yield from the reaction mixture, which contained 1 mol of cytochrome c and 1 mol of cytochrome c peroxidase/mol. Of the total 40 lysine residues, four to six were blocked by the cross-linking agent. Dithiobis-succinimidylpropionate can also cross-link cytochrome c to ovalbumin, but cytochrome c peroxidase is the preferred partner for cytochrome c in a mixture of the three proteins. The cytochrome c cross-linked to the peroxidase can be rapidly reduced by free cytochrome c-557 from Crithidia oncopelti, and the equilibrium obtained can be used to calculate a mid-point oxidation-reduction potential for the cross-linked cytochrome of 243 mV. Mitochondrial NADH-cytochrome c reductase will reduce the bound cytochrome only very slowly, but the rate of reduction by ascorbate at high ionic strength approaches that for free cytochrome c. Bound cytochrome c reduced by ascorbate can be re-oxidized within 10s by the associated peroxidase in the presence of equimolar H2O2. In the standard peroxidase assay the cross-linked complex shows 40% of the activity of the free peroxidase. Thus the intrinsic ability of each partner in the complex to take part in electron transfer is retained, but the stable association of the two proteins affects access of reductants.


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