Redox Coenzyme F₄₂₀ Biosynthesis in Thermomicrobia Involves Reduction by Stand-Alone Nitroreductase Superfamily Enzymes

ABSTRACT

Coenzyme F₄₂₀ is a redox cofactor involved in hydride transfer reactions in archaea and bacteria. Since F₄₂₀-dependent enzymes are attracting increasing interest as tools in biocatalysis, F₄₂₀ biosynthesis is being revisited. While it was commonly accepted for a long time that the 2-phospho-l-lactate (2-PL) moiety of F₄₂₀ is formed from free 2-PL, it was recently shown that phosphoenolpyruvate is incorporated in Actinobacteria and that the C-terminal domain of the FbiB protein, a member of the nitroreductase (NTR) superfamily, converts dehydro-F₄₂₀ into saturated F₄₂₀. Outside the Actinobacteria, however, the situation is still unclear because FbiB is missing in these organisms and enzymes of the NTR family are highly diversified. Here, we show by heterologous expression and in vitro assays that stand-alone NTR enzymes from Thermomicrobia exhibit dehydro-F₄₂₀ reductase activity. Metabolome analysis and proteomics studies confirmed the proposed biosynthetic pathway in Thermomicrobium roseum. These results clarify the biosynthetic route of coenzyme F₄₂₀ in a class of Gram-negative bacteria, redefine functional subgroups of the NTR superfamily, and offer an alternative for large-scale production of F₄₂₀ in Escherichia coli in the future.

IMPORTANCE Coenzyme F₄₂₀ is a redox cofactor of Archaea and Actinobacteria, as well as some Gram-negative bacteria. Its involvement in processes such as the biosynthesis of antibiotics, the degradation of xenobiotics, and asymmetric enzymatic reductions renders F₄₂₀ of great relevance for biotechnology. Recently, a new biosynthetic step during the formation of F₄₂₀ in Actinobacteria was discovered, involving an enzyme domain belonging to the versatile nitroreductase (NTR) superfamily, while this process remained blurred in Gram-negative bacteria. Here, we show that a similar biosynthetic route exists in Thermomicrobia, although key biosynthetic enzymes show different domain architectures and are only distantly related. Our results shed light on the biosynthesis of F₄₂₀ in Gram-negative bacteria and refine the knowledge about sequence-function relationships within the NTR superfamily of enzymes. Appreciably, these results offer an alternative route to produce F₄₂₀ in Gram-negative model organisms and unveil yet another biochemical facet of this pathway to be explored by synthetic microbiologists.