The development of biocatalytic desulfurization of petroleum fractions may allow its use in place of conventional hydrodesulfurization (HDS). Dibenzothiophene (DBT) is representative of a broad range of sulfur heterocycles found in petroleum that are recalcitrant to desulfurization via HDS. Rhodococcus sp. strain IGTS8 has the ability to convert DBT to 2-hydroxybiphenyl (HBP) with the release of inorganic sulfur. The conversion of DBT to HBP is catalyzed by a multienzyme pathway consisting of two mono-oxygenases and a desulfinase. The final reaction catalyzed by the desulfinase appears to be the rate limiting step in the pathway. Each of the enzymes has been purified to homogeneity and their kinetic and physical properties studied. Neither monooxygenase has a tightly bound cofactor and each requires an NADH-FMN oxidoreductase for activity. An NADH-FMN oxidoreductase has been purified from Rhodococcus and is a protein of approximately 25,000 molecular weight with no apparent sequence homology to any other protein in the databases. We describe a unique sulfur acquisition system that Rhodococcus uses to obtain sulfur from very stable heterocyclic molecules.
石油馏分
生物催化脱
硫技术的发展可能会使其取代传统的加氢脱
硫(HDS)技术。
二苯并噻吩(DBT)是石油中广泛存在的
硫杂环的代表,这些杂环对通过加氢脱
硫法进行脱
硫具有顽固性。Rhodococcus sp. 菌株 IG
TS8 能够将 DBT 转化为 2-hydroxybiphenyl (HBP),并释放出无机
硫。DBT 向 HBP 的转化是由两个单氧化酶和一个脱
硫酶组成的多酶途径催化的。脱
硫酶催化的最终反应似乎是该途径中的限速步骤。每种酶都已纯化至均一,并对其动力学和物理性质进行了研究。这两种单加氧酶都没有紧密结合的辅助因子,都需要
NADH-
FMN 氧化还原酶才能发挥作用。从 Rhodococcus 中纯化出了一种
NADH-
FMN 氧化还原酶,它是一种分子量约为 25,000 的蛋白质,与数据库中的任何其他蛋白质都没有明显的序列同源性。我们描述了 Rhodococcus 从非常稳定的杂环分子中获取
硫的独特
硫获取系统。