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Aklavinone-11-hydroxylase (RdmE) is a FAD monooxygenase participating in the biosynthesis of daunorubicin, doxorubicin and rhodomycins. The rdmE gene encodes an enzyme of 535 amino acids. The sequence of the Streptomyces purpurascens enzyme is similar to other Streptomyces aromatic polyketide hydroxylases. We overexpressed the gene in Streptomyces lividans and purified aklavinone-11-hydroxylase to apparent homogeneity with four chromatographic steps utilizing a kinetic photometric enzyme assay. The enzyme is active as the monomer with a molecular mass of 60 kDa; it hydroxylates aklavinone and other anthracyclinones. Aklavinone-11-hydroxylase can use both NADH and NADPH as coenzyme but it is slowly inactivated in the presence of NADH. The apparent Km for NADPH is 2 mM and for aklavinone 10 microM. The enzyme is inactivated in the presence of phenylglyoxal and 2,3-butanedione. NADPH protects against inactivation of aklavinone-11-hydroxylase by phenylglyoxal.

In rat kidney, beta-naphthoflavone induced 53 kDa and 55 kDa proteins, which were both recognized by the antibodies against rat liver cytochrome P-450 1A1 (55kDa). The major inducible 53 kDa protein was purified from the beta naphthoflavone-treated rat kidney and shown to be a new cytochrome P-450 having a high aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity. Purified cytochrome P-450, named P-450KAh, was homogeneous on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and the apparent molecular weight was estimated to be 53 kDa. The absorption spectra of the oxidized form of P-450KAh showed a Soret peak at 416 nm, a characteristic of low-spin hemoprotein, and the Soret peak of the reduced cytochrome P-450-CO complex was at 446 nm. In the reconstituted system, purified P-450KAh showed high catalytic activity for benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylation and 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation. P-450KAh could activate genotoxicities of not only B[a]P, but also 2-acetylaminofluorene and aflatoxin B1 on the umu test. These catalytic properties of P-450KAh were almost the same as those of P-4501A1, a major P-450 form having arylhydrocarbon hydroxylase in liver microsomes of 3-methylcholanthrene-treated rats, and P-450KAh could not be distinguished from P-4501A1 even by immunochemical analysis. However, the electrophoretic peptide patterns after alpha-chymotrypsin or trypsin treatment of P-450KAh were different from those of P-4501A1, and the NH2-terminal 11 amino acid sequence of the P-450 was also different from that of P-4501A1 and any other P-450s of rat.