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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2003, p. 5410-5413, Vol. 69, No. 9
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.9.5410-5413.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Biofunctional Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture,1 Division of Science of Biological Resources, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Rokko, Kobe, Japan2
Received 10 March 2003/ Accepted 2 July 2003
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Here we report the isolation of a 4-aminophenol-assimilating bacterium and propose a metabolic pathway for 4-aminophenol. In addition, the characterization of a 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene 1,2-dioxygenase from strain AK-5 is described.
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Purification of 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene 1,2-dioxygenase.
1,2,4-Trihydroxybenzene 1,2-dioxygenase activity was assayed by the method of Latus et al. (10). The molar extinction coefficient of 4.44 x 103 at 243 nm for maleylacetic acid was used (20). Protein concentrations were measured by the method of Lowry et al. (11).
Cells (25 g [wet weight]) of strain AK-5 were suspended in 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0) (buffer A). Cell extract (fraction 1) was prepared and treated with streptomycin sulfate (fraction 2) as described previously (3). Fraction 2 was fractionated with ammonium sulfate (32 to 50% saturation). After centrifugation (20,000 x g for 10 min), the pelleted precipitate was dissolved in buffer A. The solution was dialyzed against buffer A (fraction 3, 90 ml). Fraction 3 was applied to a DE52 cellulose column (2.1 by 26 cm), and proteins were eluted with a linear gradient (0 to 0.4 M NaCl) at a flow rate of 40 ml h-1. The active fractions were pooled (fraction 4; 60 ml). Fraction 4 was applied to a DEAE-Cellulofine A-800 column (2.0 by 15 cm), and proteins were eluted with a linear gradient (0 to 0.35 M) of NaCl at a flow rate of 30 ml h-1. The active fractions were pooled (fraction 5; 30 ml). Fraction 5 was applied to a phenyl-Cellulofine column (1.6 by 7.5 cm), and proteins were eluted with a linear gradient (0.5 to 0 M) of (NH4)2SO4 at a flow rate of 30 ml h-1. The active fractions were pooled (fractions 6; 28 ml). Fraction 6 was concentrated, and the solution was loaded onto a Cellulofine GCL-1000 sf column (3.2 by 58 cm); proteins were eluted with buffer A containing 0.2 M NaCl at a flow rate of 20 ml h-1. The enzyme purity was checked by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) (21).
Substrate specificity.
The benzene ring cleavage of 1,4-benzenediol, catechol, 3-methylcatechol, 4-methylcatechol, 3-chlorocatechol, 4-chlorocatechol, 4-nitrocatechol, protocatechuic acid, and pyrogallol was monitored spectrophotometrically. Inhibition of the enzyme activity by substrate analogues was examined by incubating the enzyme (25 µg ml-1) with each analogue (0.05 mM) in 3 ml of 100 mM sodium-potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) at 24°C for 1 min. The enzyme reaction was started by adding 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene.
Effect of various compounds on enzyme activity.
The effect of metal salts and chelating and sulfhydryl agents on enzyme activity with 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene as the substrate was tested by methods described previously (18).
Production and isolation of metabolites.
The reaction mixture contained 84 ml of 100 mM sodium-potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5), 3.0 ml of cell suspension (0.57 mg [dry weight] of cells ml-1), and 3 ml of 10 mM 4-aminophenol. After incubation with shaking at 30°C for 5 min, cells were broken by ultrasonic disintegration. The solution was then adjusted to pH 3.0 with 3 N HCl, and precipitated proteins were removed by centrifugation at 20,000 x g for 10 min. The supernatant was concentrated with an evaporator to 20 ml and then extracted with ethyl acetate. The upper layer was recovered and evaporated to dryness. The accumulated products reacted with N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) at 90°C for 1.5 h. The trimethylsilylated products were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) as described below.
Consumption of molecular oxygen by whole cells.
Possible metabolites were assayed in oxygen uptake experiments with 4-aminophenol-grown cells by using a Clark-type oxygen electrode (Yellow Springs Instruments, Yellow Springs, Colo.). Cells were grown in 4-aminophenol or succinate-glucose medium. The reaction mixture contained 3.0 ml of 50 mM sodium-potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) and 0.1 ml of cell suspension (0.57 mg [dry weight] of cells ml-1). The reaction was started by adding 0.1 ml of 10 mM 4-aminophenol, 1,4-benzenediol, 1,4-benzoquinone, phenol, or catechol, and the reaction mixture was incubated at 24°C.
Identification of the reaction product (compound IV) from 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene.
The reaction mixture contained 100 ml of 100 mM sodium-potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5), 4.0 ml of enzyme solution (25 µg ml-1), and 4 ml of 5 mM 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene. After incubation at 24°C for 15 min, the mixture was concentrated to 30 ml with a rotary evaporator. The mixture was then extracted and derivatized for GC and GC-MS analysis essentially as described above.
Analytical methods.
UV absorption spectra of reaction products were recorded with a Beckman DU 650 spectrophotometer. The trimethylsilylated compounds were analyzed with a Hitachi M-2500 mass spectrometer under conditions described previously (18). 4-Aminophenol in the growing culture was determined by a diazo coupling reaction (14). A molar extinction coefficient of 3.4 x 103 at 578 nm for the diazotized compound was used. The apparent molecular mass of the native enzyme was determined by gel filtration on Cellulofine GCL-1000 sf. The molecular mass of the enzyme subunits was measured by SDS-PAGE (21).
Chemicals.
4-Aminophenol, 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene (hydroxyhydroquinone), 1,4-benzenediol (hydroquinone), catechols, and BSTFA were purchased from Wako Pure Chemicals (Osaka, Japan). DE52 cellulose was from Whatman (Madison, Wis.), and DEAE-Cellulofine A-800, phenyl-Cellulofine, and Cellulofine GCL-1000 sf were from Seikagaku (Tokyo, Japan).
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Strain AK-5 grew well on 4-aminophenol as the sole carbon, nitrogen, and energy source (Fig. 1). 4-Aminophenol was rapidly degraded during the exponential phase. The consumption of 4-aminophenol correlated with an increase in cell density and protein content. High concentrations of 4-aminophenol (>18.0 mM) inhibited growth. Strain AK-5 grew well at pHs from 5 to 6.5 and poorly at pHs >6.5.
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FIG. 1. Growth of Burkholderia sp. strain AK-5 on 4-aminophenol. Strain AK-5 was grown in basal medium containing 4-aminophenol (1.2 g · liter-1) without yeast extract in a 500-ml flask at 30°C with shaking. Disappearance of 4-aminophenol ( ; , control) was measured spectrophotometrically by using a diazo coupling reaction (14). The increase in cell density was determined by measuring the optical density at 660 nm () or the protein content ( ) of the culture.
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TABLE 1. Purification of 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene 1,2-dioxygenase from Burkholderia sp. strain AK-5
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'-dipyridyl, EDTA, o-phenanthroline, or NaN3 decreased the enzyme activity to 48, 49, 0, and 25%, respectively.
Proposed pathway of 4-aminophenol metabolism.
4-Aminophenol (0.20 mM) was degraded, with elimination of ammonia (0.17 mM), by 4-aminophenol-grown whole cells of strain AK-5. Metabolites were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Trimethylsilylated 4-aminophenol (M+ = 253) had a GC retention time of 10.7 min. Major peaks at 8.6 and 12.1 min were also observed. The mass spectra (Table 2) and the GC retention times (Rt) of compounds II and III agreed with those of the trimethylsilylated authentic 1,4-benzenediol (Rt = 8.6 min) and 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene (Rt = 12.1 min), respectively (Fig. 2). The enzymatic reaction product derived from 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene showed an absorption peak at 243 nm. The mass spectrum of the trimethylsilylated reaction product (compound IV) is in agreement with that of maleylacetic acid (Table 2) (15).
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TABLE 2. Mass spectra of the metabolites from 4-aminophenol and reaction product from 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene
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FIG. 2. Proposed pathway of 4-aminophenol metabolism in Burkholderia sp. strain AK-5 and comparison to the metabolic pathways of aniline and aniline derivatives. (a) Proposed pathway of 4-aminophenol metabolism. I, 4-aminophenol; II, 1,4-benzenediol; III, 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene; IV, maleylacetic acid. (b) Metabolic pathways of aniline and aniline derivatives in Rhodococcus erythropolis AN-13 (2), Pseudomonas putida mt-2 (12), Moraxella sp. strain G (24), and Hydrogenophaga palleronii S5 (4). I, aniline (R = H), p-toluidine (R = CH3), 4-chloroaniline (R = Cl), 4-aminobenzoic acid (R = COOH), and 4-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (R = SO3H); II, 1-amino-2-hydrodiols; III, catechol (R = H), 4-methylcatechol (R = CH3), 4-chlorocatechol (R = Cl), protocatechuic acid (R = COOH), and 4-sulfocatechol (R = SO3H).
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Figure 2a shows the proposed metabolic pathway of 4-aminophenol in strain AK-5. 4-Aminophenol was converted to 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene via 1,4-benzenediol; 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene 1,2-dioxygenase catalyzed the conversion of 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene to maleylacetic acid. Presumably, the benzene ring of 4-aminophenol is subjected to two hydroxylation steps to yield 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene. The proposed pathway differs from previously reported metabolic pathways for aniline and anilines with a methyl-, chloro-, sulfo-, or carboxy-functional-group substituent at the C-4 position (Fig. 2b) (2, 4, 13, 24). The initial reaction in the degradation of anilines is catalyzed by a dioxygenase and yields the corresponding 1-amino-2-hydrodiols as the first metabolites. Subsequent oxidation of 1-amino-2-hydrodiols leads to the formation of the catechols. The dioxygenation and dehydrogenation steps to form catechols in these species are similar irrespective of which functional group at the C-4 position of aniline is the electron donor or electron acceptor.
Hughes et al. (9) have reported that, in Pseudomonas putida strain TW3, 4-hydroxylaminobenzoate lyase converts 4-hydroxylaminobenzoate to protocatechuate, replacing the amino group by a hydroxyl group. Likewise, strain AK-5 could possibly require lyase activity in the initial step of 4-aminophenol metabolism, which we propose to be the direct conversion of 4-aminophenol to hydroquinone.
When the purified enzyme was added to a reaction mixture containing 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene, the absorption peak at 243 nm, corresponding to maleylacetic acid, and the absorption peak at 260 nm, arising from the auto-oxidation of 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene (23), increased slowly. In contrast, the auto-oxidation product did not accumulate when cell extract and the (NH4)2SO4 fraction were used in the assay. The cell extract might contain enzymes that inhibit the nonenzymatic reaction or that reduce the product. We are currently investigating enzymes involved in the transformation of the auto-oxidation product.
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