oxepins and phenylacetic-acid

Numerous aromatic compounds are aerobically degraded in bacteria via the central intermediate phenylacetic acid (paa). In one of the key steps of this widespread catabolic pathway, 1,2-epoxyphenylacetyl-CoA is converted by PaaG into the heterocyclic oxepin-CoA. PaaG thereby elegantly generates an α,β-unsaturated CoA ester that is predisposed to undergo β-oxidation subsequent to hydrolytic ring-cleavage. Moreover, oxepin-CoA serves as a precursor for secondary metabolites (e.g., tropodithietic acid) that act as antibiotics and quorum-sensing signals. Here we verify that PaaG adopts a second role in aromatic catabolism by converting

Topics: Bacteria; Catalysis; Coenzyme A; Isomerases; Ligands; Oxepins; Phenylacetates; Protein Conformation; Secondary Metabolism

The widespread, long sought-after bacterial aerobic phenylalanine/phenylacetate catabolic pathway has recently been elucidated. It proceeds via coenzyme A (CoA) thioesters and involves the epoxidation of the aromatic ring of phenylacetyl-CoA, subsequent isomerization to an uncommon seven-membered C-O-heterocycle (oxepin-CoA), and non-oxygenolytic ring cleavage. Here we characterize the hydrolytic oxepin-CoA ring cleavage catalyzed by the bifunctional fusion protein PaaZ. The enzyme consists of a C-terminal (R)-specific enoyl-CoA hydratase domain (formerly MaoC) that cleaves the ring and produces a highly reactive aldehyde and an N-terminal NADP(+)-dependent aldehyde dehydrogenase domain that oxidizes the aldehyde to 3-oxo-5,6-dehydrosuberyl-CoA. In many phenylacetate-utilizing bacteria, the genes for the pathway exist in a cluster that contains an NAD(+)-dependent aldehyde dehydrogenase in place of PaaZ, whereas the aldehyde-producing hydratase is encoded outside of the cluster. If not oxidized immediately, the reactive aldehyde condenses intramolecularly to a stable cyclic derivative that is largely prevented by PaaZ fusion in vivo. Interestingly, the derivative likely serves as the starting material for the synthesis of antibiotics (e.g. tropodithietic acid) and other tropone/tropolone related compounds as well as for ω-cycloheptyl fatty acids. Apparently, bacteria made a virtue out of the necessity of disposing the dead-end product with ring hydrolysis as a metabolic branching point.

Topics: Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; Bacterial Proteins; Coenzyme A; Enoyl-CoA Hydratase; Hydrolysis; NAD; Oxepins; Phenylacetates; Rhodocyclaceae