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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2000, p. 4304-4309, Vol. 182, No. 15
Department of Bacteriology, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
Received 30 November 1999/Accepted 15 May 2000
Reduction of the cobalt ion of cobalamin from the Co(III) to the
Co(I) oxidation state is essential for the synthesis of
adenosylcobalamin, the coenzymic form of this cofactor. A cob(II)alamin
reductase activity in Salmonella enterica serovar
Typhimurium LT2 was isolated to homogeneity. N-terminal analysis of the
homogeneous protein identified NAD(P)H:flavin oxidoreductase (Fre) (EC
1.6.8.1) as the enzyme responsible for this activity. The
fre gene was cloned, and the overexpressed protein, with a
histidine tag at its N terminus, was purified to homogeneity by nickel
affinity chromatography. His-tagged Fre reduced flavins (flavin
mononucleotide [FMN] and flavin adenine dinucleotide [FAD]) and
cob(III)alamin to cob(II)alamin very efficiently. Photochemically
reduced FMN substituted for Fre in the reduction of cob(III)alamin to
cob(II)alamin, indicating that the observed cobalamin reduction
activity was not Fre dependent but FMNH2 dependent.
Enzyme-independent reduction of cob(III)alamin to cob(II)alamin by
FMNH2 occurred at a rate too fast to be measured. The
thermodynamically unfavorable reduction of cob(II)alamin to
cob(I)alamin was detectable by alkylation of the cob(I)alamin
nucleophile with iodoacetate. Detection of the product,
caboxymethylcob(III)alamin, depended on the presence of
FMNH2 in the reaction mixture. FMNH2 failed to
substitute for potassium borohydride in in vitro assays for corrinoid
adenosylation catalyzed by the ATP:co(I)rrinoid adenosyltransferase
(CobA) enzyme, even under conditions where Fre and NADH were present in
the reaction mixture to ensure that FMN was always reduced. These
results were interpreted to mean that Fre was not responsible for the
generation of cob(I)alamin in vivo. Consistent with this idea, a
fre mutant displayed wild-type cobalamin biosynthetic
phenotypes. It is proposed that S. enterica serovar
Typhimurium LT2 may not have a cob(III)alamin reductase enzyme and
that, in vivo, nonadenosylated cobalamin and other corrinoids are
maintained as co(II)rrinoids by reduced flavin nucleotides generated by
Fre and other flavin oxidoreductases.
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Reduction of Cob(III)alamin to Cob(II)alamin in
Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium LT2
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1550 Linden Dr.,
Madison, WI 53706-1567. Phone: (608) 262-7379. Fax: (608) 262-9865. E-mail: jcescala{at}facstaff.wisc.edu.
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