Formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity

Abstract: A DNA fragment of 485 bp was specifically amplified by PCR with primers based on the N-terminal sequence of the purified formaldehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.46) from Pseudomonas putida and on that of a cyanogen bromide-derived peptide. With this product as a probe, a gene coding for formaldehyde dehydrogenase (fdhA) in P. putida chromosomal DNA was cloned in Escherichia coli DH5 alpha. Sequencing analysis revealed that the fdhA gene contained 1,197-bp open reading frame, encoding a protein composed of 399 amino acid residues whose calculated molecular weight was 42,082. The transformant of E. coli DH5 alpha harboring the hybrid plasmid, pFDHK3DN71, showed about 50-fold-higher formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity than P. putida. The predicted amino acid sequence contained several features characteristic of the zinc-containing medium-chain alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) family. Most of the glycine residues strictly conserved within the family, including a Gly-Xaa-Gly-Xaa-Xaa-Gly pattern in the coenzyme binding domain, were well conserved in this enzyme. Regions around both the catalytic and the structural zinc atoms were also conserved. Analyses of structural and enzymatic characteristics indicated that P. putida FDH belongs to the medium-chain ADH family, with mixed properties of mammalian class I and III ADHs.

Abstract: During growth on compounds containing methyl groups a formaldehyde dehydrogenase is induced in the gram-positive bacteria Rhodococcus erythropolis. This formaldehyde dehydrogenase has been purified to homogeneity using affinity chromatography and permeation chromatography. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was 4.7. The molar mass of the native enzyme was determined as 130 000 g/mol. Sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis yielded a single subunit with a molar mass of 44000 g/mol. These results, together with cross-linking experiments which yielded monomer, dimer, and trimer bands, are consistent with a trimeric subunit structure of the formaldehyde dehydrogenase. A heat-stable cofactor of low molar mass was required for activity with formaldehyde as substrate. This cofactor was found to be oxidizable, but active only in its reduced form. Preparative electrofocusing revealed that the cofactor is a weak acid with a pK of about 6.5. The enzyme was active with the homologous series of the primary alcohols, ethanol up to octanol, without requiring the presence of the cofactor. A mutant without formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity was not impaired in its growth with ethanol as substrate. It is suggested that the alcohols mimic the true substrate of the formaldehyde dehydrogenase, which could be a hydroxymethyl derivative of the cofactor, resulting from the addition of formaldehyde.

Abstract: When grown in culture Mycobacterium smegmatis metabolized S-nitrosoglutathione to oxidized glutathione and nitrate, which suggested a possible involvement of an S-nitrosothiol reductase and mycobacterial haemoglobin. The mycothiol-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase from M. smegmatis was purified by a combination of Ni2+-IMAC (immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography), hydrophobic interaction, anion-exchange and affinity chromatography. The enzyme had a subunit molecular mass of 38263 kDa. Steady-state kinetic studies indicated that the enzyme catalyses the NAD+-dependent conversion of S-hydroxymethylmycothiol into formic acid and mycothiol by a rapid-equilibrium ordered mechanism. The enzyme also catalysed an NADH-dependent decomposition of S-nitrosomycothiol (MSNO) by a sequential mechanism and with an equimolar stoichiometry of NADH:MSNO, which indicated that the enzyme reduces the nitroso group to the oxidation level of nitroxyl. Vmax for the MSNO reductase reaction indicated a turnover per subunit of approx. 116700 min(-1), which was 76-fold faster than the formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity. A gene, Rv2259, annotated as a class III alcohol dehydrogenase in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome was cloned and expressed in M. smegmatis as the C-terminally His6-tagged product. The purified recombinant enzyme from M. tuberculosis also catalysed both activities. M. smegmatis S-nitrosomycothiol reductase converted MSNO into the N -hydroxysulphenamide, which readily rearranged to mycothiolsulphinamide. In the presence of MSNO reductase, M. tuberculosis HbN (haemoglobin N) was converted with low efficiency into metHbN [HbN(Fe3+)] and this conversion was dependent on turnover of MSNO reductase. These observations suggest a possible route in vivo for the dissimilation of S-nitrosoglutathione.

Abstract: Crude soluble extracts of Methylococcus capsulatus strain Bath, grown on methane, were found to contain NAD(P)+-linked formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity. Activity in the extract was lost on dialysis against phosphate buffer, but could be restored by supplementing with inactive, heat-treated extract (70 degrees C for 12 min). The non-dialysable, heat-sensitive component was isolated and purified, and has a molecular weight of about 115000. Sodium dodecyl sulphate gel electrophoresis of the protein suggested there were two equal subunits with molecular weights of 57000. The heat-stable fraction, which was necessary for activity of the heat-sensitive protein, was trypsin-sensitive and presumed to be a low molecular weight protein or peptide. A number of thiol compounds and other common cofactors could not replace the component present in the heat-treated soluble extract. The purified formaldehyde dehydrogenase oxidized three other aldehydes with the following Km values: 0.68 mM (formaldehyde); 0.075 mM (glyoxal); 7.0 mM (glycolaldehyde); and 2.0 mM (DL-glyceraldehyde). NAD+ or NADP+ was required for activity, with Km values of 0.063 and 0.155 mM respectively, and could not be replaced by any of the artificial electron acceptors tested. The enzyme was heat-stable at 45 degrees C for at least 10 min and had temperature and pH optima of 45 degrees C and pH 7.2 respectively. A number of metal-binding agents and substrate analogues were not inhibitory. Thiol reagents gave varying degrees of inhibition, the most potent being p-hydroxymercuribenzoate which at 1 mM gave 100% inhibition. The importance of possessing an NAD(P)+-linked formaldehyde dehydrogenase, with respect to M. capsulatus, is discussed.