title: Cytochromes P450 of the sophorose lipid-producing yeast Candida apicola: heterogeneity and polymerase chain reaction-mediated cloning of two genes.
abstract: Candida apicola belongs to a group of yeasts producing high amounts of surface-active extracellular glycolipids consisting of sophorose and long-chain-omega- and (omega-1)-hydroxy fatty acids. The involvement of cytochrome P450 in the synthesis of sophorose lipid by the hydroxylation of long-chain fatty acids was suggested from a simultaneous increase of cellular P450 content. Hydroxylation studies indicated the existence of multiple P450 forms capable of hydroxylating not only long-chain fatty acids, but also n-alkanes. In this report, two different P450 DNA fragments amplified in a polymerase chain reaction with heterologous primers and chromosomal DNA of Candida apicola were used as homologous probes for the isolation of full-length clones from a genomic library. The open reading frames of both genes encode proteins of 519 amino acids with calculated molecular weights of 58,656 and 58,631, respectively, that contain N-terminal membrane anchor sequences and hallmark residues, in common with other eukaryotic P450s. The deduced amino acid sequences of the C. apicola P450 genes are 84.4% identical. They share 34.5 to 44.1% identity with the proteins of the yeast family CYP52 and about 25% identity with fatty acid hydroxylases of higher eukaryotes (family CYP4A) and of Bacillus megaterium (CYP102). Southern hybridization experiments revealed the existence of further P450-related genes in C. apicola. According to the P450 nomenclature system, the cloned genes were named CYP52E1 and CYP52E2, establishing a new subfamily in yeast family CYP52.
authors.affiliation: Max Delbrueck Centre of Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lottermoser
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Schunck
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Asperger
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001410:Bacillus megaterium / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002175:Candida / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000235:genetics*; D015723:Gene Library; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016364:Reading Frames; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017385:Sequence Homology
chemical_list: D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System