title: A P450 BM-3 mutant hydroxylates alkanes, cycloalkanes, arenes and heteroarenes.
abstract: P450 monooxygenases from microorganisms, similar to those of eukaryotic mitochondria, display a rather narrow substrate specificity. For native P450 BM-3, no other substrates than fatty acids or an indolyl-fatty acid derivative have been reported (Li, Q.S., Schwaneberg, U., Fischer, P., Schmid, R.D., 2000. Directed evolution of the fatty-acid hydroxylase P450BM-3 into an indole-hydroxylating catalyst. Chem. Eur. J. 6 (9), 1531-1536). Engineering the substrate specificity of Bacillus megaterium cytochrome P-450 BM3: hydroxylation of alkyl trimethylammonium compounds. Biochem. J. 327, 537-544). We thus were quite surprised to observe, in the course of our investigations on the rational evolution of this enzyme towards mutants, capable of hydroxylating shorter-chain fatty acids, that a triple mutant P450 BM-3 (Phe87Val, Leu188-Gln, Ala74Gly, BM-3 mutant) could efficiently hydroxylate indole, leading to the formation of indigo and indirubin (Li, Q.S., Schwaneberg, U., Fischer, P., Schmid, R.D., 2000. Directed evolution of the fatty-acid hydroxylase P450BM-3 into an indole-hydroxylating catalyst. Chem. Eur. J. 6 (9), 1531-1536). Indole is not oxidized by the wild-type enzyme; it lacks the carboxylate group by which the proper fatty acid substrates are supposed to be bound at the active site of the native enzyme, via hydrogen bonds to the charged amino acid residues Arg47 and Tyr51. Our attempts to predict the putative binding mode of indole to P450 BM-3 or the triple mutant by molecular dynamics simulations did not provide any useful clue. Encouraged by the unexpected activity of the triple mutant towards indole, we investigated in a preliminary, but systematic manner several alkanes, alicyclic, aromatic, and heterocyclic compounds, all of which are unaffected by the native enzyme, for their potential as substrates. We here report that this triple mutant indeed is capable to hydroxylate a respectable range of other substrates, all of which bear little or no resemblance to the fatty acid substrates of the native enzyme.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Technische Biochemie, Universität Stuttgart, Allmandring 31, D-70459, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lutz-Wahl
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schwaneberg
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Schmid
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation; D009251:NADPH-Ferrihemoprotein Reductase; D009281:Naphthalenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D045792:Norisoprenoids; D009795:Octanes / Q000378:metabolism; D011804:Quinolines / Q000378:metabolism*; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013729:Terpenes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009281:Naphthalenes; D045792:Norisoprenoids; D009795:Octanes; D011804:Quinolines; D013729:Terpenes; C031721:naphthalene; C057609:8-methylquinoline; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; D009251:NADPH-Ferrihemoprotein Reductase; C052423:flavocytochrome P450 BM3 monoxygenases; C011879:alpha-ionone; C026728:octane