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Journal of Bacteriology, February 1999, p. 718-725, Vol. 181, No. 3
Biophysics Research Division and Department
of Biological Chemistry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan 48109-1055
Received 9 October 1998/Accepted 9 November 1998
A K-12 strain of Escherichia coli that overproduces
methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MetF) has been constructed, and
the enzyme has been purified to apparent homogeneity. A plasmid
specifying MetF with six histidine residues added to the C terminus has
been used to purify histidine-tagged MetF to homogeneity in a single step by affinity chromatography on nickel-agarose, yielding a preparation with specific activity comparable to that of the unmodified enzyme. The native protein comprises four identical 33-kDa subunits, each of which contains a molecule of noncovalently bound flavin adenine
dinucleotide (FAD). No additional cofactors or metals have been
detected. The purified enzyme catalyzes the reduction of
methylenetetrahydrofolate to methyltetrahydrofolate, using NADH as the
reductant. Kinetic parameters have been determined at 15°C and pH 7.2 in a stopped-flow spectrophotometer; the Km for
NADH is 13 µM, the Km for
CH2-H4folate is 0.8 µM, and the turnover
number under Vmax conditions estimated for the
reaction is 1,800 mol of NADH oxidized min
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Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Purification and Properties of NADH-Dependent
5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MetF) from
Escherichia coli
1 (mol of
enzyme-bound FAD)
1. NADPH also serves as a reductant, but
exhibits a much higher Km. MetF also catalyzes
the oxidation of methyltetrahydrofolate to methylenetetrahydrofolate in
the presence of menadione, which serves as an electron acceptor. The
properties of MetF from E. coli differ from those of the
ferredoxin-dependent methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase isolated from
the homoacetogen Clostridium formicoaceticum and more
closely resemble those of the NADH-dependent enzyme from Peptostreptococcus productus and the NADPH-dependent
enzymes from eukaryotes.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Biophysics
Research Division, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
48109-1055. Phone: (734) 764-9459. FAX: (734) 764-3323. E-mail:
rmatthew{at}umich.edu.
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