Genetic and biochemical characterization of the biphenyl dioxygenase from Pseudomonas sp strain B4

Biphenyl dioxygenase (BPDO), which catalyzes the first step in the bacterial degradation of biphenyl and polychlorinated biphenyls, was characterized in Pseudomonas sp. B4. The bphA locus containing the four structural genes encoding BPDO were cloned and sequenced. A regulatory gene as well as a putative regulatory sequence were identified upstream of this locus. A transposase-like gene was found within a I-kb region further upstream, thereby suggesting that the bphA locus may be carried on a transposable element. The three components of the BPDO enzyme have been separately overexpressed and purified from E. coli. The ferredoxin and terminal dioxygenase components showed biochemical properties comparable to those of two previously characterized BPDOs, whereas the ferredoxin reductase exhibited an unusually high lability. The substrate selectivity of BPDO was examined in vivo using resting cell assays performed with mixtures of selected polychlorinated biphenyls. The results indicated that para-substituted congeners were the preferred substrates. In vitro studies were carried out on a BPDO complex where the reductase from strain B4 was replaced by the more stable isoform from Comamonas testosteroni B-356. The BPDO enzyme had a specific activity of 0.26 +/-0.02 mu mol min(-1) mg(-1) of ISPBPH with biphenyl as the substrate. The 2,3-, 4,4'-, and 2,4,4'-chlorobiphenyls were converted to single dihydrodiols, while 2,4'-dichlorobiphenyl gave rise to two dihydrodiols. The current data also indicated that 2,4,4'-trichlorobiphenyl was a better substrate than the 4,4'-dichlorinated congener.