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Appl Environ Microbiol, March 1998, p. 1029-1033, Vol. 64, No. 3
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Purification, Characterization, and Mechanism of a Flavin Mononucleotide-Dependent 2-Nitropropane Dioxygenase from Neurospora crassa

Natalia Gorlatova,¹ Marek Tchorzewski,¹ Tatsuo Kurihara,¹ Kenji Soda,² and Nobuyoshi Esaki^1,*

Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto-Fu 611,¹ and Faculty of Engineering, Kansai University, Suita, Osaka 564,² Japan

Received 1 August 1997/Accepted 19 December 1997

A nitroalkane-oxidizing enzyme was purified to homogeneity from Neurospora crassa. The enzyme is composed of two subunits; the molecular weight of each subunit is approximately 40,000. The enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of nitroalkanes to produce the corresponding carbonyl compounds. It acts on 2-nitropropane better than on nitroethane and 1-nitropropane, and anionic forms of nitroalkanes are much better substrates than are neutral forms. The enzyme does not act on aromatic compounds. When the enzyme reaction was conducted in an ¹⁸O₂ atmosphere with the anionic form of 2-nitropropane as the substrate, acetone (with a molecular mass of 60 Da) was produced. This indicates that the oxygen atom of acetone was derived from molecular oxygen, not from water; hence, the enzyme is an oxygenase. The reaction stoichiometry was 2CH₃CH(NO₂)-CH₃ + O₂2CH₃COCH₃ + 2HNO₂, which is identical to that of the reaction of 2-nitropropane dioxygenase from Hansenula mrakii. The reaction of the Neurospora enzyme was inhibited by superoxide anion scavengers in the same manner as that of the Hansenula enzyme. Both of these enzymes are flavoenzymes; however, the Neurospora enzyme contains flavin mononucleotide as a prosthetic group, whereas the Hansenula enzyme contains flavin adenine dinucleotide.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto-Fu 611, Japan. Phone: 81-774-38-3240. Fax: 81-774-38-3248. E-mail: esaki{at}scl.kyoto-u.ac.jp.

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