Structural, Mechanistic, and Functional Insights into an Arthrobacter nicotinovorans Molybdenum Hydroxylase Involved in Nicotine Degradation

Arthrobacter nicotinovorans decomposes nicotine through the pyridine pathway. 6-hydroxypseudooxynicotine 2-oxidoreductase (also named ketone dehydrogenase, Kdh) is an important enzyme in nicotine degradation pathway of A. nicotinovorans, and is responsible for the second hydroxylation of nicotine. Kdh belongs to the molybdenum hydroxylase family, and catalyzes the oxidation of 6-hydroxy-pseudooxynicotine (6-HPON) to 2,6-dihydroxy-pseudooxynicotine (2,6-DHPON). We determined the crystal structure of the Kdh holoenzyme from A. nicotinovorans, with its three subunits KdhL, KdhM, and KdhS, and their associated cofactors molybdopterin cytosine dinucleotide (MCD), two iron-sulfur clusters (Fe2S2), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), respectively. In addition, we obtained a structural model of the substrate 6-HPON-bound Kdh through molecular docking, and performed molecular dynamics (MD) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations to unveil the catalytic mechanism of Kdh. The residues Glu345, Try551, and Glu748 of KdhL were found to participate in substrate binding, and Phe269 and Arg383 of KdhL were found to contribute to stabilize the MCD conformation. Furthermore, site-directed mutagenesis and enzymatic activity assays were performed to support our structural and computational results, which also revealed a trend of increasing catalytic efficiency with the increase in the buffer pH. Lastly, our electrochemical results demonstrated electron transfer among the various cofactors of Kdh. Therefore, our work provides a comprehensive structural, mechanistic, and functional study on the molybdenum hydroxylase Kdh in the nicotine degradation pathway of A. nicotinovorans.

Characterization of a Novel Type Homoserine Dehydrogenase Only with High Oxidation Activity from Arthrobacter nicotinovorans

Homoserine dehydrogenase (HSD) is a key enzyme in the synthesis pathway of the aspartate family of amino acids. HSD can catalyze the reversible reaction of L-aspartate-β-semialdehyde (L-ASA) to L-homoserine (L-Hse). In direct contrast, growth characteristic studies of some bacterial such as Arthrobacter nicotinovorans showed that the bacterium could grow well in medium with L-homoserine as sole carbon, nitrogen and energy source, but the genes responsible for the degradation of L-Hse remain unknown. Based on the function and sequence analysis of HSD, one putative homoserine dehydrogenase from A.nicotinovorans was named AnHSD, which was different from those HSDs that from the aspartic acid metabolic pathway, might be responsible for the degradation of L-Hse. Surprisingly, the analysis showed that the purified AnHSD exhibited specific L-Hse oxidation activity without reducing activity. At pH 10.0 and 40 °C, The Km and Kcat of AnHSD was 6.30 ± 1.03 mM and 462.71 s-1, respectively. AnHSD was partiality for NAD+ cofactor, as well as insensitive to feedback inhibition of downstream amino acids of aspartic acid family. The physiological role of AnHSD in A.nicotinovorans is discussed. These findings provide a novel insight for a better understanding of an alternative genetic pathway for L-Hse catabolism which was dominated by the novel HSD.ImportanceL-homoserine is an important building block for the synthesis of L-threonine, L-methionine, L-lysine which from aspartic acid family amino acids. However, some bacteria can make use of L-homoserine as a sole carbon and nitrogen source. Although the microbial degradation of L-homoserine has been studied several times, the genes involved and the molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we show that AnHSD responsible for the catabolism of L-homoserine in strain Arthrobacter nicotinovorans, as a special homoserine dehydrogenase with high diversity exists in Arthrobacter, Microbacterium, Rhizobium. We report for the first time that this novel homoserine dehydrogenase is now proposed to play a crucial role in that L-homoserine can use as a sole carbon and nitrogen source. This study is aimed at elucidating the enzymatic properties and function features of homoserine dehydrogenase from Arthrobacter nicotinovorans. These findings provide new insight into the catabolism of L-homoserine in bacteria.

The enzymes of microbial nicotine metabolism

Because of nicotine’s toxicity and the high levels found in tobacco and in the waste from tobacco processing, there is a great deal of interest in identifying bacteria capable of degrading it. A number of microbial pathways have been identified for nicotine degradation. The first and best-understood is the pyridine pathway, best characterized forArthrobacter nicotinovorans, in which the first reaction is hydroxylation of the pyridine ring. The pyrrolidine pathway, which begins with oxidation of a carbon–nitrogen bond in the pyrrolidine ring, was subsequently characterized in a number of pseudomonads. Most recently, a hybrid pathway has been described, which incorporates the early steps in the pyridine pathway and ends with steps in the pyrrolidine pathway. This review summarizes the present status of our understanding of these pathways, focusing on what is known about the individual enzymes involved.

Biodiversity of dominant cultivable endophytic bacteria inhabiting tissues of six different cultivars of maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays) cropped under field conditions

Endophytic bacteria (EnB) play a crucial role in plant development. This study was an attempt to isolate and identify dominant cultivable EnB inhabiting young seedlings germinated in vitro and leaves of six maize cultivars grown under field conditions at temperate climate zone with culture-dependent approach. We isolated bacteria from field cropped maize only. Strains were identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In particular, members of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and α- and γ-Proteobacteria were found. Species of two genus Pseudomonas and Bacillus were dominant among them. Higher diversity of EnB was found in plants collected from Kobierzyce, where we identified 35 species from 16 genera with 22 species uniquely found at this field. On the contrary, from maize leaves collected at Smolice we identified 24 species representing 10 genera with 10 species uniquely isolated from this field. However, none of species was common for all cultivars at both locations. Among isolated EnB six species only, Pseudomonas clemancea, Pseudomonasfluorescens, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus simplex, Arthrobacter nicotinovorans and Arthrobacter nitroguajacolicus, were found in aboveground parts of the same cultivar grown on both tested fields. The fact that the same cultivars, sown from the same lots of seeds, under field conditions on two different locations were colonized with noticeably different associations of cultivable EnB suggest that cultivar genotype is an important factor selecting endophytic bacteria from local agro-environment. To our knowledge this is first report about the significant variation of diversity of cultivable endophytic bacteria inhabiting aboveground parts of the same maize cultivars grown at different locations.

Arthrobacter bambusae sp. nov., isolated from soil of a bamboo grove

A Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, motile by gliding, rod-shaped bacterial strain, THG-GM18T, was isolated from soil of a bamboo grove. Strain THG-GM18T was able to grow in the presence of up to 6.0 % (w/v) NaCl, at 4–37 °C and at pH 7.0–10.0 in R2A medium. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain THG-GM18T was closely related to species of the genus Arthrobacter . The most closely related strains to strain THG-GM18T are Arthrobacter ramosus CCM 1646T (98.5 % similarity), Arthrobacter nitroguajacolicus G2-1T (98.4 %), Arthrobacter nicotinovorans DSM 420T (98.2 %), Arthrobacter aurescens DSM 20116T (98.1 %) and Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus A6T (98.0 %). Strain THG-GM18T possessed chemotaxonomic properties consistent with those of members of the genus Arthrobacter , such as peptidoglycan type A3α (l-Lys–l-Ala–l-Thr–l-Ala), MK-9 as major menaquinone and anteiso- and iso-branched compounds (anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0) as major cellular fatty acids. The polar lipid profile contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified phosphoglycolipid, unidentified phospholipids, unidentified aminolipids, an unidentified glycolipid and unidentified lipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 61.0 mol%. The DNA–DNA relatedness values between strain THG-GM18T and its closest phylogenetic neighbours were below 26.0 %. The results of physiological and biochemical tests allowed the differentiation of strain THG-GM18T from species of the genus Arthrobacter with validly published names. Arthrobacter bambusae sp. nov. is the proposed name, and the type strain is THG-GM18T ( = KACC 17531T = JCM 19335T).