title: Isolation and expression of a Bacillus cereus gene encoding benzil reductase.
abstract: Benzil was reduced stereospecifically to (S)-benzoin by Bacillus cereus strain Tim-r01. To isolate the gene responsible for asymmetric reduction, we constructed a library consisting of Escherichia coli clones that harbored plasmids expressing Bacillus cereus genes. The library was screened using the halo formation assay, and one clone showed benzil reduction to (S)-benzoin. Thus, this clone seemed to carry a plasmid encoding a Bacillus cereus benzil reductase. The deduced amino acid sequence had marked homologies to the Bacillus subtilis yueD protein (41% identity), the yeast open reading frame YIR036C protein (31%), and the mammalian sepiapterin reductases (28% to 30%), suggesting that benzil reductase is a novel short-chain de-hydrogenases/ reductase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Toyama University, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishizawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue
mesh_terms: D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010658:Phenylglyoxal / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases; C446000:benzil reductase; D010658:Phenylglyoxal; C006697:benzil