Two membrane-bound, reductive dehalogenases that constitute a novel pathway for complete dechlorination of tetrachloroethene (perchloroethylene [PCE]) to ethene were partially purified from an anaerobic microbial enrichment culture containing Dehalococcoides ethenogenes 195. When titanium(III) citrate and methyl viologen were used as reductants, PCE-reductive dehalogenase (PCE-RDase) (51 kDa) dechlorinated PCE to trichloroethene (TCE) at a rate of 20 μmol/min/mg of protein. TCE-reductive dehalogenase (TCE-RDase) (61 kDa) dechlorinated TCE to ethene. TCE, cis-1,2-dichloroethene, and 1,1-dichloroethene were dechlorinated at similar rates, 8 to 12 μmol/min/mg of protein. Vinyl chloride and trans-1,2-dichloroethene were degraded at rates which were approximately 2 orders of magnitude lower. The light-reversible inhibition of TCE-RDase by iodopropane and the light-reversible inhibition of PCE-RDase by iodoethane suggest that both of these dehalogenases contain Co(I) corrinoid cofactors. Isolation and characterization of these novel bacterial enzymes provided further insight into the catalytic mechanisms of biological reductive dehalogenation.

https://aem.asm.org/content/aem/64/4/1270.full.pdf

Reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene to ethene by a two-component enzyme pathway.

The design of new molecules for photochemical studies typically requires knowledge of spectral features of pertinent chromophores beginning with the absorption spectrum (λabs ) and accompanying molar absorption coefficient (e, m-1 cm-1 ) and often extending to the fluorescence spectrum (λem ) and fluorescence quantum yield (Φf ), where the fluorescence properties may be of direct relevance or useful as proxies to gain insight into the nature of the first excited singlet state. PhotochemCAD databases, developed over a period of 30 years, are described here. The previous databases for 150 compounds have been expanded to encompass 339 compounds for which absorption spectra (including e values), fluorescence spectra (including Φf values) and references to the primary literature have been included where available (552 spectra altogether). The compounds exhibit spectra in the ultraviolet, visible and/or near-infrared spectral regions. The compound classes and number of members include acridines (21), aromatic hydrocarbons (41), arylmethane dyes (11), azo dyes (18), biomolecules (18), chlorins/bacteriochlorins (16), coumarins (14), cyanine dyes (19), dipyrrins (7), heterocycles (26), miscellaneous dyes (13), oligophenylenes (13), oligopyrroles (6), perylenes (5), phthalocyanines (11), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (16), polyenes/polyynes (10), porphyrins (34), quinones (24) and xanthenes (15). A database of 31 solar spectra also is included.

Database of Absorption and Fluorescence Spectra of >300 Common Compounds for use in PhotochemCAD.

Cultures of Clostridium formicoaceticum and C. thermoaceticum growing on fructose and glucose, respectively, were shown to rapidly oxidize CO to CO(2). Rates up to 0.4 mumol min(-1) mg of wet cells(-1) were observed. Carbon monoxide oxidation by cell suspensions was found (i) to be dependent on pyruvate, (ii) to be inhibited by alkyl halides and arsenate, and (iii) to stimulate CO(2) reduction to acetate. Cell extracts catalyzed the oxidation of carbon monoxide with methyl viologen at specific rates up to 10 mumol min(-1) mg of protein(-1) (35 degrees C, pH 7.2). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate and ferredoxin from C. pasteurianum were ineffective as electron acceptors. The catalytic mechanism of carbon monoxide oxidation was "ping-pong," indicating that the enzyme catalyzing carbon monoxide oxidation can be present in an oxidized and a reduced form. The oxidized form was shown to react reversibly with cyanide, and the reduced form was shown to react reversibly with alkyl halides: cyanide inactivated the enzyme only in the absence of carbon monoxide, and alkyl halides inactivated it only in the presence of carbon monoxide. Extracts inactivated by alkyl halides were reactivated by photolysis. The findings are interpreted to indicate that carbon monoxide oxidation in the two bacteria is catalyzed by a corrinoid enzyme and that in vivo the reaction is coupled with the reduction of CO(2) to acetate. Cultures of C. acidi-urici and C. cylindrosporum growing on hypoxanthine were found not to oxidize CO, indicating that clostridia mediating a corrinoid-independent total synthesis of acetate from CO(2) do not possess a CO-oxidizing system.

Carbon Monoxide Oxidation by Clostridium thermoaceticum and Clostridium formicoaceticum

Structural basis for gene regulation by a B12-dependent photoreceptor

The coenzyme B12-dependent photoreceptor protein, CarH, is a bacterial transcriptional regulator that controls the biosynthesis of carotenoids in response to light. On binding of coenzyme B12 the monomeric apoprotein forms tetramers in the dark, which bind operator DNA thus blocking transcription. Under illumination the CarH tetramer dissociates, weakening its affinity for DNA and allowing transcription. The mechanism by which this occurs is unknown. Here we describe the photochemistry in CarH that ultimately triggers tetramer dissociation; it proceeds via a cob(III)alamin intermediate, which then forms a stable adduct with the protein. This pathway is without precedent and our data suggest it is independent of the radical chemistry common to both coenzyme B12 enzymology and its known photochemistry. It provides a mechanistic foundation for the emerging field of B12 photobiology and will serve to inform the development of a new class of optogenetic tool for the control of gene expression.

https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/130734/1/ncomms8907.pdf

The photochemical mechanism of a B12-dependent photoreceptor protein

Publisher Summary Since the chemistry of the antipernicious anemia factor, vitamin B 12 , was last reviewed in “Vitamins and Hormones” by Folkers and Wolf, outstanding progress has been made, resulting in the complete structural elucidation of the vitamin. It is the purpose of this chapter to bring that review up t o date by reviewing results published between the date of its appearance and September, 1956. The demand for vitamin B 12 has increased, and many recent papers on the preparation of the vitamin are concerned with commercial production which depends on fermentation methods; in fact vitamin B 12 is synthesized almost entirely by microorganisms in nature. It is now more usual to employ special organisms for B 12 production than to isolate it as a by-product from antibiotic fermentations. Various species of Streptomyces have been recommended for the preparation of vitamin B12, for example S. olivaceus, as well as Bacillus megatherium, although no outstanding improvements have been reported in its isolation.

Todd A

Papers

Chemistry of vitamin B12.