The most familiar organophosphorus compounds are the neurotoxic insecticides and nerve agents. A related group of organophosphorus compounds, the phosphotriester plasticizers and flame retardants, has recently become widely used. Unlike the neurotoxic phosphotriesters, the plasticizers and flame retardants lack an easily hydrolyzable bond. While the hydrolysis of the neurotoxic organophosphates by phosphotriesterase enzymes is well-known, the lack of a labile bond in the flame retardants and plasticizers renders them inert to typical phosphotriesterases. A phosphotriesterase from Sphingobium sp. strain TCM1 (Sb-PTE) has recently been reported to catalyze the hydrolysis of organophosphorus flame retardants. This enzyme has now been expressed in Escherichia coli, and the activity with a wide variety of organophosphorus substrates has been characterized and compared to the activity of the well-known phosphotriesterase from Pseudomonas diminuta (Pd-PTE). Structure prediction suggests that Sb-PTE has a β-propeller fold, and homology modeling has identified a potential mononuclear manganese binding site. Sb-PTE exhibits catalytic activity against typical phosphotriesterase substrates such as paraoxon, but unlike Pd-PTE, Sb-PTE is also able to effectively hydrolyze flame retardants, plasticizers, and industrial solvents. Sb-PTE can hydrolyze both phosphorus–oxygen bonds and phosphorus–sulfur bonds, but not phosphorus–nitrogen bonds. The best substrate for Sb-PTE is the flame retardant triphenyl phosphate with a kcat/Km of 1.7 × 106 M–1 s–1. Quite remarkably, Sb-PTE is also able to hydrolyze phosphotriesters with simple alcohol leaving groups such as tributyl phosphate (kcat/Km = 40 M–1 s–1), suggesting that this enzyme could be useful for the bioremediation of a wide variety of organophosphorus compounds.
最常见的有机
磷化合物是神经毒性
杀虫剂和神经毒剂。与其相关的一组有机
磷化合物,即
磷酰三酯
增塑剂和阻燃剂,近来已被广泛使用。与神经毒性
磷酰三酯不同,
增塑剂和阻燃剂缺乏易于
水解的键。尽管
磷酰三
酯酶对神经毒性有机
磷酸盐的
水解已为人所熟知,但阻燃剂和
增塑剂中缺乏活性键使得它们对典型的
磷酰三
酯酶不起反应。近期有报道称,来自淡紫拟青霉菌株TCM1(Sb-
PTE)的一种
磷酰三
酯酶能够催化有机
磷阻燃剂的
水解。这种酶现已在大肠杆菌中表达,其对多种有机
磷底物的活性已被鉴定并与其从矮小假单胞菌(Pd-
PTE)中提取的活性进行了比较。结构预测表明,Sb-
PTE具有β-螺旋桨折叠结构,同源建模揭示了一个潜在的单核
锰结合位点。Sb-
PTE表现出对如对氧
磷等典型
磷酰三
酯酶底物的催化活性,但与Pd-
PTE不同,Sb-
PTE还能有效
水解阻燃剂、
增塑剂和工业溶剂。Sb-
PTE能够
水解
磷氧键和
磷硫键,但不是
磷氮键。Sb-
PTE的最佳底物是阻燃剂三苯基
磷酸酯,其kcat/Km值为1.7 × 106 M–1 s–1。非常值得注意的是,Sb-
PTE还能够
水解具有简单醇离去基团的
磷酰三酯,如三
丁基磷酸酯(kcat/Km = 40 M–1 s–1),这表明该酶在广泛的有机
磷化合物
生物修复方面可能非常有用。