An alcohol oxidase of Phanerochaete chrysosporium with a distinct glycerol oxidase activity.

An intracellular alcohol oxidase (AOX) was isolated from the white-rot basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium (Pch), grown on l-lactate induction medium, and purified to electrophoretic homogeneity. The dimeric protein consisted of two identical 75kDa subunits. The open reading frame of 1,956bp resulted in a monomer consisting of 651 amino acids. The enzyme showed a pI at 5.4, a pH optimum of 9, a temperature optimum at 50°C, possessed putative conserved domains of the GMC superfamily, a FAD binding domain, and showed up to 86% homology to alcohol oxidase sequences of Gloeophyllum trabeum and Coprinopsis cinerea. As was shown for the first time for an AOX from a basidiomycete, not only methanol, but also lower primary alcohols and glycerol were accepted as substrates. An assay based on aldehyde dehydrogenase confirmed d-glyceraldehyde as the product of the reaction. A bioprocess based on this enzyme could alleviate the problems associated with the huge side-stream of glycerol occurring during the manufacture of biodiesel, yielding the green oxidant hydrogen peroxide.

Bioconversion of car-3-ene by a dioxygenase of Pleurotus sapidus.

Mycelium of the basidiomycete Pleurotus sapidus known to contain a novel dioxygenase was used for the bioconversion of car-3-ene [I]. After 4h of incubation 25.3mgL(-1) car-3-en-5-one [V], 5.4mgL(-1) car-3-en-2-one [VII], and 7.3mgL(-1) car-2-en-4-one [XV] accumulated as major oxidation products. The identity of the respective carenones and their corresponding alcohols was confirmed by comparison with MS and NMR spectral data obtained for synthesized authentic compounds. The peak areas of oxidation products were at least five times higher as compared with autoxidation. A radical mechanism similar to lipoxygenase catalysis was proposed and substantiated with detailed product analyses. The reduction of assumed car-3-ene hydroperoxides to the corresponding alcohols evidenced the radical initiated formation of hydroperoxides and confirmed the regio- and stereo-selectivity of the dioxygenase. The introduction of molecular oxygen into the bicyclic car-3-ene [I] molecule occurred at allylic positions of a cyclic isopentenyl moiety with a pronounced preference for the position adjacent to the non-substituted carbon atom of the C-C-double bond. This co-factor independent selective oxygenation presents an alternative to P450 mono-oxygenase based approaches for the production of terpene derived flavor compounds, pharmaceuticals and other fine chemicals.

Analysis of car-3-en-5-hydroperoxide.

HRGC-MS, using split/splitless injection (230 degrees C), showed that a dioxygenase from Pleurotus sapidus regio-selectively transformed (+)-car-3-ene to car-3-en-5-one as the major volatile product to minor amounts of the corresponding alcohol, and to some other volatiles. Thus, the reaction was assumed to be radical mediated and similar to the lipoxygenase catalyzed peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, but the expected car-3-ene-hydroperoxides were not detected. TLC of the reaction products, followed by hydroperoxide specific staining, visually indicated the presence of hydroperoxides. TLC spots were eluted and re-analyzed using cool on-column injection, but only tailing peaks showing a mixed mass spectrum of car-3-en-5-ol/one were obtained. An unequivocal identification of car-3-en-5-hydroperoxides was achieved only after using APCI(+)-LC-MS. Upon structural confirmation, the car-3-en-5-hydroperoxide was accumulated by preparative HPLC, re-injected cool on-column, and the continuing degradation of the hydroperoxide to monoterpene ketone and alcohol during chromatography was verified. It was concluded that terpene hydroperoxides may occur in essential oils more frequently than anticipated, but are not recognized due to the principal blindness of capillary gas chromatography techniques and UV/vis LC-detectors.

Autoxidation versus biotransformation of alpha-pinene to flavors with Pleurotus sapidus: regioselective hydroperoxidation of alpha-pinene and stereoselective dehydrogenation of verbenol.

The enzymatic conversion of alpha-pinene to verbenols, verbenone, and minor volatile flavors was studied using submerged cultured cells, lyophilisate, and microsomal fractions of the edible basidiomycete Pleurotus sapidus . The similarity of the product range obtained by the bioconversions with the range of products found after autoxidation of alpha-pinene at 100 degrees C suggested similar initial pinene radicals. Extracts of the bioconversions were analyzed using thin layer chromatography with hydroperoxide staining and cool on-column capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Two isomer alpha-pinene hydroperoxides were identified as the key intermediates and their structures confirmed by comparison with synthesized reference samples and by microchemical reduction to (Z)- and (E)-verbenol. When the biocatalysts were supplemented with one of the verbenols, only the (Z)-isomer was oxidized, indicating the activity of a highly stereospecific monoterpenol dehydrogenase. The structural comparison of subunits shows that fungal oxifunctionalization reactions of some common terpene substrates, such as (+)-limonene or (+)-valencene, might likewise be catalyzed by dioxygenases rather than by CYP450 enzymes, as previously assumed.