Abstract:
p-Hydroxyphenylacetate Hydroxylase (HPAH) found in Acinetobacter
baumannii has been reported as a two-component monooxygenase enzyme that
catalyzes the conversion of p-hydroxyphenylacetate (HPA) to 3,4-
dihydroxyphenylacetate (DHPA). A Previous study has shown that a reductase
(Component 1; C1) supplied the reduced flavin to an oxygenase (Component 2; C2)
and C2 hydroxylated HPA by using reduced flavin and oxygen. In this study, the gene
encoding C2 component of HPAH from A. baumannii was identified, cloned, and
expressed. A 102 base-pair DNA fragment corresponding to the N-terminal sequence
of C2 was used as a probe to screen the genomic DNA library of A. baumannii for C2-
hpah gene. We obtained a DNA fragment of 4.8 kilo-base containing 627 bp, which
was identified as part of the C2-hpah gene. Using the N-terminal sequence of C1 to
design PCR primers, results of PCR reactions demonstrated that C2-hpah gene was
upstream of the C1-hpah gene. The rest of the C2-hpah gene was identified by using
the other probe corresponding to the N-terminal sequence of C1 protein. The deduced
amino acid sequence of the C2 demonstrated that its structure was quite distinct from
the enzyme in the same class of two-component aromatic flavorotein hydroxylase. The
C2-hpah gene was overexpressed as a soluble protein in E.coli upon induction with 1
mM IPTG at 25 °C and purified to homogeneity. Properties including subunit
molecular mass, specific activity, and kinetic constants showed that the properties of
the recombinant enzyme were same as those of the native one.