Purification and characterization of the membrane-bound quinoprotein glucose dehydrogenase of Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus PAL 5.

Acetic acid bacteria oxidize a great number of substrates, such as alcohols and sugars, using different enzymes that are anchored to the membrane. In particular, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus is distinguished for its N2-fixing activity under high-aeration conditions. Ga. diazotrophicus is a true endophyte that also has membrane-bound enzymes to oxidize sugars and alcohols. Here we reported the purification and characterization of the membrane-bound glucose dehydrogenase (GDHm), an oxidoreductase of Ga. diazotrophicus. GDHm was solubilized and purified by chromatographic methods. Purified GDHm was monomeric, with a molecular mass of 86 kDa. We identified the prosthetic group as pyrroloquinoline quinone, whose redox state was reduced. GDHm showed an optimum pH of 7.2, and its isoelectric point was 6.0. This enzyme preferentially oxidized D-glucose, 2-deoxy-D-glucose, D-galactose and D-xylose; its affinity towards glucose was ten times greater than that of E. coli GDHm. Finally, Ga. diazotrophicus GDHm was capable of reducing quinones such as Q 1, Q 2, and decylubiquinone; this activity was entirely abolished in the presence of micromolar concentrations of the inhibitor, myxothiazol. Hence, our purification method yielded a highly purified GDHm whose molecular and kinetic parameters were determined. The possible implications of GDHm activity in the mechanism for reducing competitor microorganisms, as well as its participation in the respiratory system of Ga. diazotrophicus, are discussed.

The active (ADHa) and inactive (ADHi) forms of the PQQ-alcohol dehydrogenase from Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus differ in their respective oligomeric structures and redox state of their corresponding prosthetic groups.

The membrane-bound alcohol dehydrogenase of Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus contains one pyrroloquinoline quinone moiety (PQQ), one [2Fe-2S] cluster, and four c-type cytochromes. Here, we describe a novel and inactive enzyme. ADHi, similarly to ADHa, is a heterodimer of 72- and 44-kDa subunits and contains the expected prosthetic groups. However, ADHa showed a threefold molecular mass as compared to ADHi. Noteworthy, the PQQ, the [2Fe-2S] and most of the cytochromes in purified ADHi is in the oxidized form, contrasting with ADHa where the PQQ-semiquinone is detected and the [2Fe-2S] cluster as well as the cytochromes c remained fully reduced after purification. Reduction kinetics of the ferricyanide-oxidized enzymes showed that while ADHa was brought back by ethanol to its full reduction state, in ADHi, only one-quarter of the total heme c was reduced. The dithionite-reduced ADHi was largely oxidized by ubiquinone-2, thus indicating that intramolecular electron transfer is not impaired in ADHi. The acidic pH of the medium might be deleterious for the membrane-bound ADH by causing conformational changes leading to changes in the relative orientation of heme groups and shift of corresponding redox potential to higher values. This would hamper electron transfer resulting in the low activity observed in ADHi.