Mutation of Phenylalanine-223 to Leucine Enhances Transformation of Benzo[a]pyrene by Ring-Hydroxylating Dioxygenase of Sphingobium sp FB3 by increasing Accessibility of the Catalytic Site

Burning of agricultural biomass generates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene, of which the catabolism is primarily initiated by a ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase (RHD). This study explores catalytic site accessibility and its role in preferential catabolism of some PAHs over others. The genes fInA1f, fInA2f, flnA3, and flnA4, encoding the oxygenase alpha and beta subunits, ferredoxin, and ferredoxin reductase, respectively, of the RHD enzyme complex (FlnA) were cloned from Sphingobium sp. FB3 and coexpressed in E. coli BL21. The FlnA effectively transformed fluoranthene but not benzo[a]pyrene. Substitution of the bulky phenylalanine-223 by leucine reduces the steric constraint in the substrate entrance to make the catalytic site of FlnA more accessible to large substrates, as visualized by 3D modeling, and allows the FlnA mutant to efficiently transform benzo[a]pyrene. Accessibility of the catalytic site to PAHs is a mechanism of RHD substrate specificity. The results shed light on why some PAHs are more recalcitrant than others.