Engineering of hybrid gene clusters between the toluene metabolic tod operon and the biphenyl metabolic bph operon greatly enhanced the rate of biodegradation of trichloroethylene. Escherichia coli cells carrying a hybrid gene cluster composed of todC1 (the gene encoding the large subunit of toluene terminal dioxygenase in Pseudomonas putida F1), bphA2 (the gene encoding the small subunit of bi...

Desulfovibrio africanus ferredoxin III is a monomeric protein (molecular mass of 6585 Da) that contains one [3Fe-4S]1+/0 and one [4Fe-4S]2+/1+ cluster when isolated aerobically. The amino acid sequence consists of 61 amino acids, including seven cysteine residues that are all involved in co-ordination to the clusters. In order to isolate larger quantities of D. africanus ferredoxin III, we have...

Ferredoxins are electron shuttles harbouring iron-sulfur clusters that connect multiple oxido-reductive pathways in organisms displaying different lifestyles. Some prokaryotes and algae express an isofunctional electron carrier, flavodoxin, which contains flavin mononucleotide as cofactor. Both proteins evolved in the anaerobic environment preceding the appearance of oxygenic photosynthesis. Th...

Several strains that grow on medium-chain-length alkanes and catalyze interesting hydroxylation and epoxidation reactions do not possess integral membrane nonheme iron alkane hydroxylases. Using PCR, we show that most of these strains possess enzymes related to CYP153A1 and CYP153A6, cytochrome P450 enzymes that were characterized as alkane hydroxylases. A vector for the polycistronic coexpress...

Ferredoxin I and II are proteins carrying a specific ligand—an iron-sulfur cluster—which allows transport of electrons. These two classes ferredoxin in their monomeric dimeric forms the object this work. Characteristic hydrophobic core both molecules is analyzed via fuzzy oil drop model (FOD) to show specificity structure enabling binding relatively large ligand formation complex. Structures Fd...

The 2.07 A resolution X-ray crystal structure of a soluble Rieske-type ferredoxin from Mus musculus encoded by the gene Mm.266515 is reported. Although they are present as covalent domains in eukaryotic membrane oxidase complexes, soluble Rieske-type ferredoxins have not previously been observed in eukaryotes. The overall structure of the mouse Rieske-type ferredoxin is typical of this class of...

The fdxA gene was identified upstream of and in the opposite direction from the Caulobacter crescentus cysC gene. Analyses of the nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of the fdxA gene demonstrated that it encodes a ferredoxin with a molecular mass of 12,080 Da. This ferredoxin has common structural features with ferredoxins that contain a [3Fe-4S] and a [4Fe-4S] cluster, incl...

Ferredoxins are required to supply electrons to the cytochrome P450 enzymes involved in cross-linking reactions during the biosynthesis of the glycopeptide antibiotics balhimycin and vancomycin. However, the biosynthetic gene clusters for these antibiotics contain no ferredoxin- or ferredoxin reductase-like genes. In a search for potential ferredoxin partners for these P450s, here, we report an...

Gene-inactivation studies point to the involvement of OxyB in catalyzing the first oxidative phenol coupling reaction during glycopeptide antibiotic biosynthesis. The oxyB gene has been cloned and sequenced from the vancomycin producer Amycolatopsis orientalis, and the hemoprotein has been produced in Escherichia coli, crystallized, and its structure determined to 1.7-A resolution. OxyB gave UV...