Ded-Shih Huang

Production of High-Quality Particulate Methane Monooxygenase in High Yields from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) with a Hollow-Fiber Membrane Bioreactor

In order to obtain particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO)-enriched membranes from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) with high activity and in high yields, we devised a method to process cell growth in a fermentor adapted with a hollow-fiber bioreactor that allows easy control and quantitative adjustment of the copper ion concentration in NMS medium over the time course of cell culture. This technical improvement in the method for culturing bacterial cells allowed us to study the effects of copper ion concentration in the growth medium on the copper content in the membranes, as well as the specific activity of the enzyme. The optimal copper concentration in the growth medium was found to be 30 to 35 micro M. Under these conditions, the pMMO is highly expressed, accounting for 80% of the total cytoplasmic membrane proteins and having a specific activity as high as 88.9 nmol of propylene oxide/min/mg of protein with NADH as the reductant. The copper stoichiometry is approximately 13 atoms per pMMO molecule. Analysis of other metal contents provided no evidence of zinc, and only traces of iron were present in the pMMO-enriched membranes. Further purification by membrane solubilization in dodecyl beta-D-maltoside followed by fractionation of the protein-detergent complexes according to molecular size by gel filtration chromatography resulted in a good yield of the pMMO-detergent complex and a high level of homogeneity. The pMMO-detergent complex isolated in this way had a molecular mass of 220 kDa and consisted of an alphabetagamma protein monomer encapsulated in a micelle consisting of ca. 240 detergent molecules. The enzyme is a copper protein containing 13.6 mol of copper/mol of pMMO and essentially no iron (ratio of copper to iron, 80:1). Both the detergent-solubilized membranes and the purified pMMO-detergent complex exhibited reasonable, if not excellent, specific activity. Finally, our ability to control the level of expression of the pMMO allowed us to clarify the sensitivity of the enzyme to NADH and duroquinol, the two common reductants used to assay the enzyme.

The stereospecific hydroxylation of [2,2-2H2]butane and chiral dideuteriobutanes by the particulate methane monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath).

Experiments on cryptically chiral ethanes have indicated that the particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) catalyzes the hydroxylation of ethane with total retention of configuration at the carbon center attacked. This result would seem to rule out a radical mechanism for the hydroxylation chemistry, at least as mediated by this enzyme. The interpretation of subsequent experiments on n-propane, n-butane, and n-pentane has been complicated by hydroxylation at both the pro-R and pro-S secondary C–H bonds, where the hydroxylation takes place. It has been suggested that these results merely reflect presentation of both the pro-R and pro-S C–H bonds to the hot “oxygen atom” species generated at the active site, and that the oxo-transfer chemistry, in fact, proceeds concertedly with retention of configuration. In the present work, we have augmented these earlier studies with experiments on [2,2-2H2]butane and designed d,l form chiral dideuteriobutanes. Essentially equal amounts of (2R)-[3,3-2H2]butan-2-ol and (2R)-[2-2H1]butan-2-ol are produced upon hydroxylation of [2,2-2H2]butane. The chemistry is stereospecific with full retention of configuration at the secondary carbon oxidized. In the case of the various chiral deuterated butanes, the extent of configurational inversion has been shown to be negligible for all the chiral butanes examined. Thus, the hydroxylation of butane takes place with full retention of configuration in butane as well as in the case of ethane. These results are interpreted in terms of an oxo-transfer mechanism based on side-on singlet oxene insertion across the C–H bond similar to that previously noted for singlet carbene insertion (Kirmse, W., and Özkir, I. S. (1992) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 114, 7590-7591). Finally, we discuss how even the oxene insertion mechanism, with “spin crossover” in the transition state, could lead to small amounts of radical rearrangement products, if and when such products are observed. A scheme is described that unifies the two extreme mechanistic limits, namely the concerted oxene insertion and the hydrogen abstraction radical rebound mechanism within the same over-arching framework.

Determination of the Carbon Kinetic Isotope Effects on Propane Hydroxylation Mediated by the Methane Monooxygenases from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) by Using Stable Carbon Isotopic Analysis

Authentic propane with known position‐specific carbon isotope composition at each carbon atom was subjected to hydroxylation by the particulate and soluble methane monooxygenase (pMMO and sMMO) from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath), and the corresponding position‐specific carbon isotope content was redetermined for the product 2‐propanol. Neither the reaction mediated by pMMO nor that with sMMO showed an intermolecular 12C/13C kinetic isotope effect effect on the propane hydroxylation at the secondary carbon; this indicates that there is little structural change at the carbon center attacked during formation of the transition state in the rate‐determining step. This finding is in line with the concerted mechanism proposed for pMMO (Bath), and suggested for sMMO (Bath), namely, direct side‐on insertion of an active “O” species across the CH bond, as has been previously reported for singlet carbene insertion.

An exploration of intramolecular carbon isotopic distributions of commercial acetone and isopropanol

We report on an analysis of the isotope compositions of individual carbon positions within commercial acetones and isopropanols using gas chromatography combustion isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). We have tentatively classified both acetones and isopropanols into two source types: those with no significant difference in δ13CMe and δ13CCO values are from refinery propylene; while other samples with less negative δ13CMe values than the corresponding δ13CCO values are from steam pyrolysis propylene. These results also suggest that the isotopic composition of individual carbon-positions of the reservoir hydrocarbons are position random except for the methyl-carbon in favor of the heavy isotope.

Toxicity assessment of mono‐substituted benzenes and phenols using a Pseudomonas initial oxygen uptake assay

A methodology is presented for assessing the toxicity of chemical substances through their inhibitory action toward the Pseudomonas initial oxygen uptake (PIOU) rate. The current studies reveal that the PIOU assay is rapid, cost-efficient, and easy to perform. The oxygen uptake rate was found to be associated with a putative benzoate transporter and highly dependent on benzoate concentration. The putative benzoate transporter has been shown to follow Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Most phenols were found to be noncompetitive inhibitors of the benzoate transporter. The inhibition constant (Ki) of these noncompetitive inhibitors can be related to the concentration causing 50% oxygen uptake inhibition in Pseudomonas putida. Modeling these data by using the response-surface approach leads to the development of a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) for the toxicity of phenols ((1/Ki) = -0.435 (+/-0.038) lowest-unoccupied-molecular orbital + 0.517 (+/-0.027)log K(OW) - 2.340 (+/-0.068), n = 49, r2 = 0.930, s = 0.107, r2adj = 0.926, F = 303.1). A comparison of QSAR models derived from the Ki data of the PIOU method and the toxicity data of 40-h Tetrahymena pyrifomis growth inhibition assay (Tetratox) indicated that there was a high correlation between the two approaches (r2 = 0.925).

Assessment of baseline toxicity of mono-cyclic aromatic compounds by pseudomonas initial oxygen uptake assay

The objective of this study was to develop quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) for the toxicity of mono-cyclic aromatic compounds in the Pseudomonas putida initial oxygen uptake assay. The QSARs were developed using response-surface based on descriptors for chemical hydrophobicity and electrophilicity (LUMO). The model ; led us to conclude that the polar and non-polar narcotics were statistically indistinguishable. Pentafluorophenol, pentachlorophenol and most dinitrophenols classified as weak acid respiratory uncouplers in literature fit well into this model when they were treated as their corresponding phenoxides. This latter result suggests that the action mechanism of these phenols should be reevaluated.