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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2004, p. 1931-1934, Vol. 70, No. 4
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.4.1931-1934.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Fum3p, a 2-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase Required for C-5 Hydroxylation of Fumonisins in Fusarium verticillioides
Yousong Ding, Ravi S. Bojja, and Liangcheng Du*
Chemistry Department, University of NebraskaLincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0304
Received 13 August 2003/
Accepted 7 January 2004

ABSTRACT
Fumonisins are polyketide-derived mycotoxins produced by several
agriculturally important
Fusarium species. The B series fumonisins,
FB
1, FB
2, FB
3, and FB
4, are fumonisins produced by wild-type
Fusarium verticillioides strains, differing in the number and
location of hydroxyl groups attached to the carbon backbone.
We characterized the protein encoded by
FUM3, a gene in the
fumonisin biosynthetic gene cluster. The 33-kDa
FUM3 protein
(Fum3p) was heterologously expressed and purified from
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast cells expressing the Fum3p converted FB
3 to
FB
1, indicating that Fum3p catalyzes the C-5 hydroxylation of
fumonisins. This result was verified by assaying the activity
of Fum3p purified from yeast cells. The C-5 hydroxylase activity
of purified Fum3p required 2-ketoglutarate, Fe
2+, ascorbic acid,
and catalase, all of which are required for 2-ketoglutarate-dependent
dioxygenases. The protein also contains two His motifs that
are highly conserved in this family of dioxygenases. Thus, Fum3p
is a 2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase required for the
addition of the C-5 hydroxyl group of fumonisins.

INTRODUCTION
Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced by the filamentous fungus
Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc.) Nirenberg (synonym
F. moniliforme,
teleomorph
Gibberella moniliformis, synonym
Gibberella fujikuroi mating population A) (
22,
25). The fungus is a widespread pathogen
of maize. It causes ear and stalk rot and can colonize plant
tissues without causing visible symptoms (
4,
11). Fumonisins
induce several animal diseases, including leukoencephalomalacia
in horses (
20,
23), pulmonary edema in swine (
15), and cancer
in rats (
14). In some areas of China and South Africa, the consumption
of fumonisin-contaminated maize is correlated with high incidences
of human esophageal cancer (
9,
34).
B-series fumonisins are typically the most abundant fumonisins in maize, with fumonisin B1 (FB1) making up to approximately 70% of the total content (25). Fumonisins consist of a linear 20-carbon backbone with hydroxyl, methyl, and tricarballylic acid moieties attached at various positions along the backbone (1). This structure is similar to sphinganine, an intermediate in the biosynthesis of sphingolipid. Fumonisins competitively inhibit sphinganine N-acyltransferase, thereby blocking the biosynthesis of sphingolipids, essential components of cell membranes (24, 30). This disruption may be the cause of the fumonisin-induced animal diseases.
The biosynthetic origins of fumonisins are partly established. Carbons 3 to 20 (C-3 to C-20) of the fumonisin backbone are derived from acetate and the amino group and C-1 and C-2 from alanine (2, 3). The methyl groups at C-12 and C-16 are derived from methionine (26), the C-3 hydroxyl group is from an acetate-derived carbonyl group, and the C-5 and C-10 hydroxyl groups are from molecular oxygen (7). The origin of vicinal diol at C-14 and C-15 is not totally clear, but it also could be from molecular oxygen (7). Recently, Proctor et al. (27-29, 32) cloned a 15-gene (FUM1 and FUM6 through FUM19) cluster responsible for the biosynthesis of fumonisins in F. verticillioides. The proteins deduced from the DNA sequence are consistent with the hypothesis that fumonisins are synthesized by a polyketide mechanism followed by modifications of the polyketide backbone. Among these genes, FUM13 is known to encode a C-3 ketoreductase (6), and FUM3 (previously called FUM9) is known to encode the C-5 hydroxylase (5). FUM3 deletion mutants produce fumonisins that lack the C-5 hydroxyl group (i.e., FB3 and FB4), the same phenotype exhibited by mutants of F. verticillioides with defective alleles at the meiotically defined Fum3 locus (12). So far, none of the FUM genes has been biochemically characterized. The data from FUM3 mutants suggest that Fum3p catalyzes the C-5 hydroxylation of fumonisins, but direct evidence for the function of Fum3p is still lacking. Our objective in this study was to heterologously express FUM3 and evaluate the Fum3p enzyme. We found that Fum3p is a 2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase required for C-5 hydroxylation of fumonisins.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Materials, strains, and vectors.
High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-grade acetonitrile
was from EM Science (Darmstadt, Germany) or from Fisher Scientific
(Pittsburgh, Pa.). Yeast nitrogen base without amino acids (but
with ammonium sulfate), uracil, raffinose, and salmon sperm
DNA were from Sigma (St. Louis, Mo.). Standard FB
1, FB
2, FB
3,
and FB
4 were gifts from Ronald D. Plattner (U.S. Department
of Agriculture [USDA], Peoria, Ill.) or were purchased from
Promec Unit, Medical Research Council, Tygerberg, South Africa.
F. verticillioides wild-type strain A0149 (FGSC number 7600)
was provided by David Gilchrist (University of California, Davis).
Plasmid preparation and DNA extraction were carried out with
Qiagen kits (Valencia, Calif.), and all other manipulations
were carried out according to standard methods (
31).
Escherichia coli strain DH5

was used as the host for general DNA propagation,
and cloning vectors were the pGEM-zf series from Promega (Madison,
Wis.).
Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain INVSc1 was purchased
from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, Calif.). The strain is auxotrophic
for histidine, leucine, tryptophan, and uracil. Yeast expression
vectors pYES2/NT A, B, and C also were from Invitrogen.
Fum3p expression in yeast.
The FUM3 coding region was amplified by PCR with primers fum3-F-BamHI, 5'-CCGCATGGATCCAACAAGGAAAAGGTTCCC-3' (underlined letters indicate BamHI site), and fum3-R-EcoRI, 5'-CCCGCGGAATTCTCAATCATCTAACCCAAG-3' (underlined letters indicate EcoRI site), with F. verticillioides genomic DNA as template and Pfu-Ultra polymerase (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.). The PCR product was digested with EcoRI and BamHI and ligated into pGEM-3zf (Promega) at the same sites to produce pDU1. After confirmation by DNA sequencing that no errors were introduced into the coding region during PCR, the cloned FUM3 was transferred to pYES2/NT C via the BamHI and EcoRI sites to produce pDU2. The construct was subsequently transformed into yeast following the manufacturer's instructions (Invitrogen). For protein expression and extraction from the yeast cells, the same procedure was followed as described in the manufacturer's manual. The lysis buffer contained 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.4), 5% glycerol, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. To precipitate proteins from the cell extracts, 0.338 g of ammonium sulfate was added slowly to 1 ml of extract solution (50% saturation at 4°C). After gentle shaking for 2 to 3 h, the solution was centrifuged at 16,000 x g at 4°C for 10 min. The supernatant was transferred to a new tube, and 0.201 g of ammonium sulfate was added to the solution (85% saturation at 4°C). The solution was gently shaken at 4°C overnight, and the precipitated proteins were collected by centrifugation at 16,000 x g at 4°C for 10 min. The protein pellets were redissolved in 500 µl of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer (140 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 10 mM Na2HPO4, and 1.8 mM KH2PO4; pH 7.4) and dialyzed twice against 2,000 volumes of PBS buffer at 4°C. The proteins were loaded onto a Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) column (Qiagen) preequilibrated with PBS buffer, and Fum3p was eluted in PBS buffer containing 250 mM imidazole. Finally, the eluents containing purified Fum3p were combined and desalted on a PD-10 column (Sephadex G-25; Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, N.J.) into 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.8, containing 1 mM dithiothreitol and 5% glycerol and stored at 80°C until used in in vitro assays.
Experiments in yeast cultures.
One microliter of FB3 stock solution (10 µg/µl, in 50% acetonitrile) was added to 200 µl of freshly prepared yeast cells, which had grown in induction medium at 30°C, 250 rpm, for 17 h. After the culture was incubated an additional 30 to 60 min under the same conditions, a 100-µl aliquot was centrifuged at 16,000 x g at room temperature for 8 min. The supernatant was transferred to a clean tube, and the cell pellet was combined with 20 µl of acetonitrile. The mixture was placed at 80°C for 2 to 3 h and thawed under running tap water. After this freezing-thawing procedure was repeated two more times, the mixture was centrifuged at 16,000 x g at room temperature for 8 min. The resulting supernatant was recovered and dried in a SpeedVac concentrator (Savant, Albertville, Minn.). The residue was suspended in 50 µl of H2O to dissolve the trace amount of fumonisins. An aliquot (50 µl) of the solution was injected into an HPLC apparatus for analysis. As a control, a culture of INVSc1 carrying pYES2/NT C without FUM3 was processed in the same manner.
Enzymatic assays for Fum3p.
The enzyme assay followed previously described methods for 2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases (13, 19). A typical reaction mixture contained 10 µM Fum3p, 142 µM FB3 or 290 µM FB4, 100 µM freshly made Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2, 200 µM 2-ketoglutarate, 200 µM ascorbic acid, and 100 µg of catalase/µl in a total volume of 50 µl. After incubation at 30°C for 30 min, 50 µl of methanol was added to stop the reaction. The mixture was centrifuged at 16,000 x g at room temperature for 5 min, and a fraction of the supernatant (typically 50 µl) was injected into the HPLC apparatus for analysis. Reactions with boiled Fum3p (10 min in a boiled water bath), without 2-ketoglutarate, Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2, ascorbic acid, or catalase, also were conducted in parallel. Each reaction had at least three replications.
HPLC-ELSD and LC-ESMS methods.
The HPLC system was a ProStar, model 210, from Varian (Walnut Creek, Calif.) with a column of Alltima C18LL, 5 µm, 250 by 4.6 mm inner diameter (Alltech, Deerfield, Ill.). The mobile phases were water-TFA (100:0.025 [vol/vol]) (A) and acetonitrile-TFA (100:0.025 [vol/vol]) (B), with a gradient of 0 to 40% B in A in the first 5 min, 40 to 60% B from 5 to 10 min, 60 to 80% B from 10 to 15 min, 80 to 80% B from 15 to 20 min, and 80 to 0% B from 20 to 25 min. The flow rate was 1.0 ml/min, and 50 µl was injected in analytic experiments. The conditions set for the evaporative laser scattering detector (ELSD 2000; Alltech) were 45°C of drift tube temperature, 2.0-liter/min nitrogen gas flow, and gain value of 1 in the impactor-on mode. For preparative HPLC, the respective fractions were collected directly from the column according to their retention times. A 50-µl aliquot of the concentrated fractions was reanalyzed by HPLC-ELSD to confirm the presence of the desired compounds. These salt-free fractions were used in liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ESMS) analysis. LC-ESMS used a column of RFC18 Vydac, 5 µm, 250 by 1 mm inner diameter (C18 MassSpec; Vydac). The solvent system was the same as for HPLC-ELSD. The flow rate was 0.05 ml/min, and the injection volume was 50 µl. All positive electrospray spectra were acquired using a VG Platform II mass spectrometer.

RESULTS
Conversion of FB3 to FB1 by yeast cells expressing FUM3.
Cultures of the yeast strain INVSc1 carrying pDU2 were fed FB
3.
HPLC-ELSD analysis of extracts from these cultures revealed
a peak with a retention time of 12.6 min that was not produced
in control cultures (INVSc1 transformed with pYES2/NT) that
had been fed FB
3. The retention time of this new peak was the
same as that of FB
1 (Fig.
1). FB
3 had a retention time of 13.2
min under the same conditions. Since the only difference between
FB
3 and FB
1 is a C-5 hydroxyl group, the results indicated that
Fum3p expressed in yeast catalyzes C-5 hydroxylation of fumonisins.
Enzymatic activity of Fum3p.
The Fum3p protein was expressed at a moderate level and was
partially soluble under the experimental conditions used. Using
a Ni-NTA affinity column, the His
6-tagged Fum3p was purified
and yielded a 33-kDa band in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide
gel electrophoresis (Fig.
2). Incubation of the purified protein
with FB
3 in the presence of 2-ketoglutarate, iron(II), ascorbic
acid, and catalase yielded a compound with the same retention
time (12.3 min) as FB
1 in HPLC-ELSD (Fig.
3A). The fractions
corresponding to all fumonisins (retention times from 12 to
15 min) on HPLC-ELSD were pooled and dried in vacuo. After redissolving
in water, the fractions were analyzed by LC-ESMS. Two peaks
appeared on the LC. The first had a retention time of 14.8 min
and a molecular weight of 722.6, which are identical to the
retention time and [M+H]
+ ion of the FB
1 standard (data not
shown). The second peak had a retention time of 15.2 min and
a molecular weight of 706.3, which are identical to the retention
time and [M+H]
+ ion of the FB
3 standard (data not shown). The
results showed that Fum3p catalyzes the conversion of FB
3 to
FB
1. In a reaction mixture containing 5 µg (142 µM)
of FB
3, the amount of FB
1 produced by Fum3p was 1,292 ±
91 ng, which represents a 24 to 28% conversion of FB
3 to FB
1.
When boiled Fum3p was used in the reaction, no FB
1 was detected
by HPLC-ELSD (Fig.
3B). A similar result was obtained when the
reactions were run without iron(II) (Fig.
3C), 2-ketoglutarate
(Fig.
3D), ascorbic acid (data not shown), or catalase (data
not shown). Thus, Fum3p has the characteristics of a typical
2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase.
Parallel to the reactions using FB
3 as substrate, a series of
reactions with FB
4 as the substrate also were conducted. Under
the same conditions, the standard FB
4 had a retention time of
14.4 min, and the standard FB
2 had a retention time of 13.4
min on HPLC-ELSD (data not shown). However, no observable FB
2 was produced in any of the Fum3p reaction mixtures with FB
4 as the substrate. Varying the concentration of Fum3p or FB
4,
with or without the cosubstrate or cofactors, in the reactions
did not change these results.

DISCUSSION
So far, eight (
FUM1,
FUM3,
FUM6,
FUM8,
FUM13,
FUM17,
FUM18,
and
FUM19) of the 15
FUM genes have been disrupted or deleted
by homologous recombination (
5,
6,
27,
28,
32), but only two
(
FUM3 and
FUM13) of these disruptions resulted in the accumulation
of detectable intermediates (
5,
6).
FUM13 encodes a ketoreductase
required for the reduction of the C-3 keto group of the carbon
backbone (
6), and
FUM3 encodes a hydroxylase required for the
hydroxylation of the C-5 position (
5). We biochemically confirmed
that the function of the
FUM3-encoded protein was to hydroxylate
the C-5 position of fumonisins. This conclusion is based on
both in vivo and in vitro conversion of FB
3 to FB
1 by the heterologously
expressed Fum3p enzyme.
FUM3 is a 903-bp gene located in the middle of the FUM gene cluster (27, 32). Fum3p shares 30 to 40% identity at the amino acid level to several hypothetical proteins, including a hypothetical protein (AAK01519) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a conserved hypothetical protein (AAN68422) from Pseudomonas putida KT2440, and hypothetical protein Rv3633 (NP_218150) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, but it did not exhibit any significant similarity to proteins with known functions. In several short regions (50 to 60 amino acid residues), Fum3p has some similarity (approximately 40%) to epoxidase subunit A from Penicillium decumbens (BAA75924) (35), a probable phytanoyl-coenzyme A 2-hydroxylase from Homo sapiens (NP_006205) (8), Rattus norvegicus (P57093) (18), and Mus musculus (NP_034856) (17), L-proline 4-hydroxylase from Dactylosporangium sp. (BAA20094) (33), and MmcH (a putative 2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase) from Streptomyces lavendulae (AF127374) (21). Thus, the biochemical characterization of Fum3p has implications for the function of the hypothetical proteins identified in other organisms.
Fum3p belongs to the family of 2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases. These enzymes catalyze a wide range of substrate conversions, including hydroxylation, desaturation, and epoxidation, using O2 and 2-ketoglutarate as cosubstrates and Fe2+ as a cofactor (10, 16). One atom of O2 is inserted into 2-ketoglutarate, which is subsequently decomposed to give succinate and CO2, and the other is inserted in the second organic product (e.g., FB1). Most of these oxygenases require, but not absolutely, ascorbate and catalase for optimal substrate conversion in vitro (10, 16). The role of ascorbate probably is indirect and unrelated to the reaction mechanism, whereas the role of catalase is presumably to protect the dioxygenase from the H2O2 generated in the reaction medium (10, 16). The activity of Fum3p was clearly dependent on 2-ketoglutarate, Fe2+, ascorbate, and catalase. The conclusion that Fum3p is a 2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase also is supported by a more detailed sequence analysis. Although an initial database search yielded no clear matches, a careful analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of the FUM3 product identified His-1 and His-2 motifs, which are highly conserved in this group of dioxygenases (13, 19, 33). The two motifs usually are arranged in the general pattern of H-X-D-X53-57-H (X being any amino acid residue), in which the two histidines and one aspartate constitute the endogenous ligands of the Fe2+ active site. Thus, the residues H146, D148, and H221 of Fum3p could be the facial triad for its active site common to all 2-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases.
Fum3p was expected to convert FB4 to FB2. Like FB1, FB2 contains the C-5 hydroxyl group, but not the C-10 hydroxyl. FB3 and FB4 have the same structure except that FB3 has the C-10 hydroxyl group. The failure of Fum3p to convert FB4 to FB2 suggests that the presence of a C-10 hydroxyl group may be important for the C-5 hydroxylation activity of Fum3p. The enzyme responsible for the addition of the C-5 hydroxyl group of FB2 has not been identified. One possibility is that FB4 may not be the direct precursor of FB2. Further biochemical characterization of other redox enzymes in the FUM cluster, e.g., FUM6, FUM12, FUM 13, and FUM15, should shed further light on the origins of the hydroxyl groups of fumonisins.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Robert H. Proctor and Robert A. E. Butchko (USDA) for
sharing information prior to publication and for critically
reading the manuscript. We also thank Ronald D. Plattner (USDA)
for providing standard fumonisins, David G. Gilchrist (University
of California, Davis) for
F. verticillioides wild-type strain
A0149, and Ron Cerny and Kurt Wulser (Nebraska Center for Mass
Spectrometry, University of NebraskaLincoln) for technical
assistance in LC-MS analysis.
This study was supported in part by faculty start-up funds from the University of NebraskaLincoln, a Faculty Seed Grant from the Nebraska Research Council, and a Layman Award from the University of Nebraska Foundation.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Chemistry Department, University of NebraskaLincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0304. Phone: (402) 472-2998. Fax: (402) 472-9402. E-mail:
ldu{at}unlserve.unl.edu.


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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2004, p. 1931-1934, Vol. 70, No. 4
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.4.1931-1934.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.