ABSTRACT
The molecular basis of the ability of bacteria to live on caffeine via the C-8 oxidation pathway is unknown. The first step of this pathway, caffeine to trimethyluric acid (TMU), has been attributed to poorly characterized caffeine oxidases and a novel quinone-dependent caffeine dehydrogenase. Here, we report the detailed characterization of the second enzyme, a novel NADH-dependent trimethyluric acid monooxygenase (TmuM), a flavoprotein that catalyzes the conversion of TMU to 1,3,7-trimethyl-5-hydroxyisourate (TM-HIU). This product spontaneously decomposes to racemic 3,6,8-trimethylallantoin (TMA). TmuM prefers trimethyluric acids and, to a lesser extent, dimethyluric acids as substrates, but it exhibits no activity on uric acid. Homology models of TmuM against uric acid oxidase HpxO (which catalyzes uric acid to 5-hydroxyisourate) reveal a much bigger and hydrophobic cavity to accommodate the larger substrates. Genes involved in the caffeine C-8 oxidation pathway are located in a 25.2-kb genomic DNA fragment of CBB1, including
cdhABC
(coding for caffeine dehydrogenase) and
tmuM
(coding for TmuM). Comparison of this gene cluster to the uric acid-metabolizing gene cluster and pathway of
Klebsiella pneumoniae
revealed two major open reading frames coding for the conversion of TM-HIU to
S
-(+)-trimethylallantoin [
S
-(+)-TMA]. The first one, designated
tmuH
, codes for a putative TM-HIU hydrolase, which catalyzes the conversion of TM-HIU to 3,6,8-trimethyl-2-oxo-4-hydroxy-4-carboxy-5-ureidoimidazoline (TM-OHCU). The second one, designated
tmuD
, codes for a putative TM-OHCU decarboxylase which catalyzes the conversion of TM-OHCU to
S
-(+)-TMA. Based on a combination of enzymology and gene-analysis, a new degradative pathway for caffeine has been proposed via TMU, TM-HIU, TM-OHCU to
S
-(+)-TMA.
摘要
细菌能够通过 C-8 氧化途径以咖啡因为生的分子基础尚不清楚。该途径的第一步,即咖啡因转化为三甲基尿酸(TMU),一直归因于特征不清的咖啡因氧化酶和一种新型醌依赖性咖啡因脱氢酶。在这里,我们报告了第二种酶的详细特征,即新型 NADH 依赖性三甲基尿酸单加氧酶(TmuM),它是一种黄素蛋白,可催化 TMU 转化为 1,3,7-三甲基-5-羟基异尿酸(TM-HIU)。这种产物会自发分解成外消旋的 3,6,8-三甲基尿囊素(TMA)。TmuM 喜欢以三甲基尿酸为底物,其次是二甲基尿酸,但对尿酸没有活性。TmuM 与尿酸氧化酶 HpxO(催化尿酸转化为 5-羟基异酸酯)的同源模型显示,TmuM 有一个更大的疏水空腔,以容纳更大的底物。参与咖啡因 C-8 氧化途径的基因位于 CBB1 25.2-kb 的基因组 DNA 片段中,包括
cdhABC
(咖啡因脱氢酶)和
tmuM
(TmuM)。将该基因簇与肺炎克雷伯氏菌的尿酸代谢基因簇和途径进行比较
肺炎克雷伯菌
发现了两个主要的开放阅读框,它们编码将 TM-HIU 转化为
S
-(+)-三甲基尿囊素 [
S
-(+)-TMA]。第一个被命名为
tmuH
它催化 TM-HIU 转化为 3,6,8-三甲基-2-氧代-4-羟基-4-羧基-5-脲基咪唑啉(TM-OHCU)。第二种是
tmuD
编码的是一种假定的 TM-OHCU 脱羧酶,它能催化 TM-OHCU 转化为
S
-(+)-TMA。根据酶学和基因分析相结合的方法,提出了咖啡因通过 TMU、TM-HIU、TM-OHCU 到 S -(+)-TMA 的新降解途径。
S
-(+)-TMA。