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The quinocytochrome c, lupanine hydroxylase, was shown to be located in the periplasm of a Pseudomonas sp. The midpoint redox potential of the haem in the purified enzyme was measured by potentiometric titration and shown to be +193 mV. PQQ was removed from the enzyme by isoelectric focusing to give inactive apoenzyme. This resulted in a shift in the midpoint redox potential of the haem to +98 mV. Full activity was recovered by the addition of PQQ to apoenzyme that also restored the original potential.

Pseudomonas sp. strain AT3 grew with dl-tropic acid, the aromatic component of the alkaloid atropine, as the sole source of carbon and energy. Tropic acid-grown cells rapidly oxidized the growth substrate, phenylacetaldehyde, and phenylacetic acid. Crude cell extracts, prepared from dl-tropic acid-grown cells, contained two NAD+-linked dehydrogenases which were separated by ion-exchange chromatography and shown to be specific for their respective substrates, dl-tropic acid and phenylacetaldehyde. Phenylacetaldehyde dehydrogenase was relatively unstable. The stable tropic acid dehydrogenase was purified to homogeneity by a combination of ion-exchange, molecular-sieve, and affinity chromatography. It had a pH optimum of 9.5 and was equally active with both enantiomers of tropic acid, and at this pH, phenylacetaldehyde was the only detectable product of tropic acid oxidation. The formation of phenylacetaldehyde from tropic acid requires, in addition to dehydrogenation, a decarboxylation step. By analogy with NAD+-specific isocitrate and malate dehydrogenases, phenylmalonic semialdehyde, a 3-oxoacid, would be expected to be the precursor of phenylacetaldehyde. Other workers have established that isocitrate and malate dehydrogenases catalyze the decarboxylation of enzyme-bound or added 3-oxoacid intermediates, a reaction that requires Mn2+ or Mg2+ ions. Studies with tropic acid dehydrogenase were hampered by lack of availability of phenylmalonic semialdehyde, but in the absence of added divalent metal ions, both enantiomers of tropic acid were completely oxidized and we have not, by a number of approaches, found any evidence for the transient accumulation of phenylmalonic semialdehyde.

Tropine dehydrogenase was induced by growth of Pseudomonas AT3 on atropine, tropine or tropinone. It was NADP(+)-dependent and gave no activity with NAD+. The enzyme was very unstable but a rapid purification procedure using affinity chromatography that gave highly purified enzyme was developed. The enzyme gave a single band on isoelectric focusing with an isoelectric point at approximately pH 4. The native enzyme had an M(r) of 58,000 by gel filtration and 28,000 by SDS/PAGE and therefore consists of two subunits of equal size. The enzyme displayed a narrow range of specificity and was active with tropine and nortropine but not with pseudotropine, pseudonortropine, or a number of related compounds. The apparent Kms were 6.06 microM for tropine and 73.4 microM for nortropine with the specificity constant (Vmax/Km) for tropine 7.8 times that for pseudotropine. The apparent Km for NADP+ was 48 microM. The deuterium of [3-2H]tropine and [3-2H]pseudotropine was retained when these compounds were converted into 6-hydroxycyclohepta-1,4-dione, an intermediate in tropine catabolism, showing that the tropine dehydrogenase, although induced by growth on tropine, is not involved in the catabolic pathway for this compound. 6-Hydroxycyclohepta-1,4-dione was also implicated as an intermediate in the pathways for pseudotropine and tropinone catabolism.

Growth of Pseudomonas AT3 on the alkaloid atropine as its sole source of carbon and nitrogen is nitrogen-limited and proceeds by degradation of the tropic acid part of the molecule, with the metabolism of the tropine being limited to the point of release of its nitrogen. A nitrogen-free compound accumulated in the growth medium and was isolated and identified as 6-hydroxycyclohepta-1,4-dione. This novel compound is proposed as an intermediate in tropine metabolism. It served as a growth substrate for the organism and was also the substrate for an NAD(+)-linked dehydrogenase present in cell extracts. The enzyme was induced during the tropine phase of diauxic growth on atropine or during growth on tropine alone.

Lupanine 17-hydroxylase, the first enzyme in the pathway for bacterial degradation of the alkaloid, lupanine, was purified from a Pseudomonas sp. The enzyme acts by initial dehydrogenation of the substrate, and cytochrome c was used as electron acceptor in assays. It had an Mr of 66,000 by ultracentrifuge studies and 74,000 by gel filtration. The visible absorption spectrum was that of a cytochrome c, and a stoicheiometry of one haem group per molecule of enzyme was calculated. SDS/PAGE gave a single band of Mr 72,000 containing the haem group. The enzyme also contained pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), which could be removed by isoelectric focusing. The apoenzyme was reconstituted to full activity with addition of PQQ, and a stoicheiometry of one molecule of PQQ per molecule of enzyme was calculated. Steady-state kinetics gave values of 3.6 microM for the Km for lupanine, 21.3 microM for the Km for cytochrome c and 217 s-1 for the Kcat.

p-Cresol methylhydroxylases from four different pseudomonads differ in their isoelectric points and, to a lesser extent, in Mr values and substrate specificity. The enzymes from three species were isolated in homogeneous form, then resolved into their flavoprotein and cytochrome subunits, and the subunits were recombined to yield the nine possible hybrids (i.e. three intraspecies and six interspecies). The resulting flavocytochromes showed extensive similarities in steady-state kinetic parameters and in the dissociation constants of their subunits. Evidence is also presented that a fourth type of p-cresol methylhydroxylase, from Pseudomonas putida (N.C.I.B. 9869, form 'B'), the subunits of which cannot be isolated by the isoelectric focusing technique used to separate the subunits of the other flavocytochromes, nevertheless dissociates slowly at high dilution. The dissociation is reflected by a decline of catalytic activity with time. This process for the 'B' enzyme is prevented by the presence of substrate or an excess of a cytochrome subunit isolated from another enzyme species. Incubation of the dissociated subunits with p-cresol brings about extensive, albeit incomplete, re-association and regeneration of activity.

Pseudomonas putida N.C.I.B. 9869, when grown on 3,5-xylenol, hydroxylates the methyl groups on 3,5-xylenol and on p-cresol by two different enzymes. 3,5-Xylenol methylhydroxylase, studied only in relatively crude extracts, requires NADH, is not active with p-cresol and is inhibited by cyanide, but not by CO. The p-cresol methylhydroxylase requires an electron acceptor and will act under anaerobic conditions. It was purified and is a flavocytochrome c of mol.wt. approx. 114,000 consisting of two subunits of equal size. The enzyme catalyses the hydroxylation of p-cresol (Km 16 micron) and the further oxidation of product, p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (Km 27 micron) to p-hydroxybenzaldehyde. A different p-cresol methylhydroxylase of the flavocytochrome c type is induced by growth on p-cresol. It too was purified and has mol.wt. approx. 100,000, and again consisted of two equal-size subunits. The Km for p=cresol 3.6 micron and for p=hydroxybenzyl alcohol, 15 micron.

The cellular location of the flavocytochrome c, p-cresol methylhydroxylase was investigated in two strains of Pseudomonas putida. In both cases the enzymes were shown to be located in the periplasmic fraction by their release during treatment of the bacteria with EDTA and lysozyme in a solution containing a high concentration of sucrose. For strain NCIB 9869 the finding is in accord with the suggestion that the physiological acceptor for the enzyme is azurin as this too was shown to be located mostly in the periplasm.

8 alpha-(O-Tyrosyl)riboflavin has been synthesized by condensation of the copper complex of L-tyrosine with 8 alpha-bromotetraacetylriboflavin. The structure of this synthetic product was proven by absorption and 1H NMR spectroscopy and by chemical degradation, which yielded 1 mol of tyrosine per mol of flavin. The synthetic compound comigrated wtih the (aminoacyl)riboflavin isolated from the p-cresol methylhydroxylase of Pseudomonas putida, and both showed identical absorption and fluorescence spectral properties. 8 alpha-(O-Tyrosyl)riboflavin as well as the flavin-containing decapeptide from p-cresol methylhydroxylase undergoes reductive cleavage to form riboflavin and FAD, respectively, on anaerobic treatment with dithionite. In contrast, the native enzyme, on reduction with dithionite, yields a reduced flavin via a red (anionic) flavosemiquinone intermediate, which remains covalently bound to the protein even under denaturing conditions. 8 alpha-(O-Tyrosyl)riboflavin bound to apoflavodoxin is also not cleaved on reduction with dithionite, but, instead, a blue (neutral) semiquinone of tyrosylriboflavin is generated, which is resistant to further reduction with dithionite. Three p-cresol methylhydroxylases, isolated from different strains of Pseudomonas putida, differing in molecular weight and Km values for substrates, contain the same peptide at the flavin site. These data provide definitive proof for the existence of 8 alpha-(O-tyrosyl)riboflavin in nature.

Single crystals of p-cresol methylhydroxylase, a flavocytochrome c from Pseudomonas putida, have been prepared. The crystals are orthorhombic, space group P212121 with unit cell parameters; a = 140.3 A, b = 130.6 A and c = 74.1 A. They contain a single non-symmetric dimer per asymmetric unit and diffract to at least 2.5 A resolution.

A comparison of the oxidation rates of various compounds by whole cells of Pseudomonas putida 3, 5 indicated that m-cresol is metabolized by oxidation to 3-hydroxybenzoate followed by hydroxylation to gentisate, the ring-fission substrate, when grown with 3, 5-xylenol. However, when m-cresol was the growth substrate, similar experiments suggested a different pathway involving a methyl-substituted catechol, and ring-fission by meta cleavage. Assays of ring-fission enzymes in cell-free extracts confirmed that different pathways are induced by the two growth substrates. 3, 5-Xylenol-grown cells contained high levels of gentisate oxygenase and only very small amounts of catechol oxygenase, whereas gentisate ocygenase could not be detected in m-cresol-grown cells, but levels of catechol oxygenase were greatly increased. Extracts of m-cresol-grown cells also contained 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde dehydrogenase and hydrolase, whose specificities enable them to metabolize the ring-fission products from catechol, 3-methylcatechol, and 4-methylcatechol. This catechol pathway is also used by m-cresol-grown cells for p-cresol metabolism. In contrast, the results for cells grown with p-cresol point to an alternative pathway involving oxidation to 4-hydroxybenzoate and hydrosylation to protocatechuate as ring-fission substrate. Extracts of these cells contained high levels of protocatechuate oxygenase and only small amounts of catechol oxygenase.

In the hydroxylation of the methyl group of p-cresol by an enzyme from Pseudomonas putida the oxygen atom is derived from water. Although a second reaction by the same enzyme converts the product, p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, into the aldehyde, the alcohol is an enzyme-free intermediate.

The enzyme 4-ethylphenol methylenehydroxylase was purified from Pseudomonas putida JD1 grown on 4-ethylphenol. It is a flavocytochrome c for which the Mr was found to be 120,000 by ultracentrifuging and 126,000 by gel filtration. The enzyme consists of two flavoprotein subunits each of Mr 50,000 and two cytochrome c subunits each of Mr 10,000. The redox potential of the cytochrome is 240 mV. Hydroxylation proceeds by dehydrogenation and hydration to give 1-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)ethanol, which is also dehydrogenated by the same enzyme to 4-hydroxyacetophenone. The enzyme will hydroxylate p-cresol but is more active with alkylphenols with longer-chain alkyl groups. It is located in the periplasm of the bacterium.

Constitutive synthesis of enzymes responsible for methyl group oxidation in 3,5-xylenol degradation and an associated p-cresol methylhydroxylase in Pseudomonas putida NCIB 9869 was shown by their retention at high specific activities in cells transferred from 3,5-xylenol medium to glutamate medium. The specific activities of other enzymes of the 3,5-xylenol pathway declined upon removal of aromatic substrate, consistent with their inducible control. Specific activities of the methyl-oxidizing enzymes showed an eventual decline concomitant with a decrease in the fraction of bacteria capable of growth with 3,5-xylenol; a simultaneous loss of the ability to grow with m-hydroxybenzoate was also observed. The property of 3,5-xylenol utilization could be transferred to another strain of P. putida. It is proposed that enzymes of the 3,5-xylenol pathway and those for conversion of p-cresol to p-hydroxybenzoate are plasmid encoded, that the early methyl-oxidizing enzymes are expressed constitutively, and that the later enzymes are inducible.

The redox potential of the cytochrome c in 5 flavocytochrome c proteins, all p-cresol methylhydroxylases purified from species of Pseudomonas, was measured. All gave similar values ranging from 226-250 mV. Two of the enzymes, from Pseudomonas putida NC1B 9866 and NC1B 9869, were resolved into their flavoprotein and cytochrome subunits and the redox potentials of the isolated cytochrome c subunits measured. The values for these were 60-70 mV below those for the whole enzymes but, in both cases, reconstitution of active enzyme by addition of the flavoprotein subunit restored the original potential.

Whole cells of Pseudomonas putida N.C.I.B 9869, when grown on either 3,5-xylenol or p-cresol, oxidized both m- and p-hydroxybenzyl alcohols. Two distinct NAD+-dependent m-hydroxybenzyl alcohol dehydrogenases were purified from cells grown on 3,5-xylenol. Each is active with a range of aromatic alcohols, including both m- and p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, but differ in their relative rates with the various substrates. An NAD+-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase was also partially purified from p-cresol grown cells. This too was active with m- and p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol and other aromatic alcohols, but was not identical with either of the other two dehydrogenases. All three enzymes were unstable, but were stabilized by dithiothreitol and all were inhibited with p-chloromercuribenzoate. All were specific for NAD+ and each was shown to catalyse conversion of alcohol into aldehyde.

The enzyme that catalyses the hydroxylation of the methyl group of p-cresol was purified from Pseudomonas putida. It has mol.wt. 115000 and appears to contain two subunits of equal molecular weight. One subunit is a c-type cytochrome and the other is a flavoprotein. Reduction of the cytochrome occurred on addition of substrate. The same enzyme catalyses both p-cresol hydroxylation and the further oxidation of the product, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol. The stoicheiometry of acceptor reduced per molecule of substrate oxidized is that for two dehydrogenation reactions. The Km for p-cresol is 7.3 x 10(-6) M and that for 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol is 47.6 x 10(-6) M. The enzyme, which is assayed with phenazine methosulphate as electron acceptor, was stimulated by particulate material, which probably contains the acceptor in vivo.

1. Cell-free extracts, prepared from a non-fluorescent Pseudomonas grown on m-cresol, oxidized gentisate and certain alkyl-substituted gentisates with the consumption of 1 mol of oxygen and the formation of 1 mol of pyruvate from 1 mol of substrate. 2. In addition to pyruvate, malate was formed from gentisate; citramalate was formed from 3-methylgentisate and 4-methylgentisate; 2,3-dimethylmalate was formed from 3,4-dimethylgentisate. 3. One enantiomer, d-(-)-citramalate, was formed enzymically from 3-methylgentisate, 4-methylgentisate and citraconate. l-(+)-Citramalate was formed from mesaconate by the same extracts. When examined as its dimethyl ester by gas-liquid chromatography, enzymically formed 2,3-dimethylmalate showed the same behaviour as one of the two racemates prepared from the synthetic compound. 4. Maleate, citraconate and 2,3-dimethylmaleate were rapidly hydrated by cell extracts, but ethylfumarate and 2,3-dimethylfumarate were not attacked. 5. Cell extracts oxidized 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoate to give pyruvate and phthalate. 6. Alkylgentisates were oxidized by a gentisate oxygenase (EC 1.13.1.4) present in Pseudomonas 2,5. The ring-fission products were attacked by maleylpyruvase, but not by fumarylpyruvase, and their u.v.-absorption spectra were those expected for alkyl-substituted maleylpyruvates. 7. When supplemented with ATP, CoA, succinate and Mg(2+) ions, an enzyme system from cells grown with 2,5-xylenol formed pyruvate from d- but not from l-citramalate. Extracts from cells grown with dl-citramalate or with itaconate attacked both d- and l-citramalate; other alkylmalates were cleaved in similar fashion to give pyruvate or 2-oxobutyrate. 8. These results accord with a general sequence of reactions in which the benzene nucleus of an alkylgentisate is cleaved to give an alkyl-substituted maleylpyruvate. The ring-fission products are hydrolysed to give pyruvate, plus alkylmalic acids which then undergo aldol fissions, probably as their CoA esters. In Pseudomonas 2,5 several homologous sequences of this general type appear to be catalysed by a single battery of enzymes with broad substrate specificities, whereas the metabolic capabilities of the fluorescent Pseudomonas 3,5 are more restricted. 9. Intact cells of both organisms metabolize d-malic acid by reactions that have not been elucidated, but are different from those which degrade alkylmalates.

1. Measurements of the rates of oxidation of various compounds by a fluorescent Pseudomonas indicated that metabolism of 2,4-xylenol was initiated by oxidation of the methyl group para to the hydroxyl group. 2. 4-Hydroxy-3-methylbenzoic acid was isolated as the product of oxidation of 2,4-xylenol by cells inhibited with alphaalpha'-bipyridyl. 3. 4-Hydroxyisophthalic acid accumulated at low oxygen concentrations when either 2,4-xylenol or 4-hydroxy-3-methylbenzoic acid was oxidized by cells grown with 2,4-xylenol. 4. When supplemented with NADH, but not with NADPH, cell extracts oxidized 4-hydroxy-3-methylbenzoic acid readily. 2-Hydroxy-5-methylbenzoic acid was not oxidized. 5. Both 4-hydroxyisophthalic acid and p-hydroxybenzoic acid were oxidized to beta-oxoadipic acid by cell extracts supplemented with either NADH or NADPH. 4,5-Dihydroxyisophthalic acid was not oxidized. 6. From measurements of oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide evolved it was concluded that protocatechuic acid is an intermediate in the conversion of 4-hydroxyisophthalic acid into beta-oxoadipic acid.

1. Intact cells of a non-fluorescent Pseudomonas grown with m-cresol, 2,5-xylenol, 3,5-xylenol, 3-ethyl-5-methylphenol or 2,3,5-trimethylphenol rapidly oxidized all these phenols to completion. 3-Hydroxybenzoate and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoate (gentisate) were also readily oxidized. 2. 3-Hydroxybenzoic acid and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid were isolated as products of m-cresol oxidation by cells inhibited by alphaalpha'-bipyridyl. Alkyl-substituted 3-hydroxybenzoic acids and alkyl-substituted gentisic acids were formed similarly from 2,5-xylenol, 3,5-xylenol, 3-ethyl-5-methylphenol and 2,3,5-trimethylphenol. 3. When supplemented with NADH, not NADPH, extracts of cells grown with 2,5-xylenol catalysed the oxidation of all five phenols and accumulated the corresponding gentisic acids in the presence of alphaalpha'-bipyridyl. 4. Cells of a fluorescent Pseudomonas grown with m-cresol oxidized m-cresol, 3,5-xylenol and 3-ethyl-5-methylphenol to completion and oxidized 2,5-xylenol and 2,3,5-trimethylphenol partially. The oxidation product of 2,5-xylenol was identified as 3-hydroxy-4-methylbenzoic acid. In the presence of alphaalpha'-bipyridyl, 3-hydroxy-5-methylbenzoic acid and 3-methylgentisic acid were formed from 3,5-xylenol.