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Characterization of Sphingomonas aldehyde dehydrogenase catalyzing the conversion of various aromatic aldehydes to their carboxylic acids

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Abstract

An aldehyde dehydrogenase gene, designated phnN, was isolated from a genome library of the 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene-utilizing soil bacterium, Sphingomonas sp. 14DN61. Escherichia coli expressing the phnN gene converted 1,4-dihydroxymethylnaphthalene to 1-hydroxymethyl-4-naphthoic acid. The putative amino acid sequence of the phnN gene product had 31–42% identity with those of NAD+-dependent short-chain aliphatic aldehyde dehydrogenases and a secondary alcohol dehydrogenase. The NAD(P)+-binding site and two consensus sequences involved in the active site for aldehyde dehydrogenase are conserved among these proteins. The PhnN enzyme purified from recombinant E. coli showed broad substrate specificity towards various aromatic aldehydes, i.e., 1- and 2-naphaldehydes, cinnamaldehyde, vanillin, syringaldehyde, benzaldehyde and benzaldehydes substituted with a hydroxyl, methyl, methoxy, chloro, fluoro, or nitro group were converted to their corresponding carboxylic acids. Interestingly, E. coli expressing phnN was able to biotransform a variety of not only aromatic aldehydes, but also aromatic alcohols to carboxylic acids.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mai Miura for technical assistance. This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Medical Technology Development Department of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan.

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  1. Marine Biotechnology Institute, 3-75-1 Heita, Kamaishi-shi, Iwate, 026-0001, Japan

    Xue Peng, Kaneo Kanoh, Yukie Inomata, Seon-Kang Choi & Norihiko Misawa

  2. Japan Women’s University, Mejirodai, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8681, Japan

    Kazutoshi Shindo

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  1. Xue Peng
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  2. Kazutoshi Shindo
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Correspondence to Norihiko Misawa.

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Peng, X., Shindo, K., Kanoh, K. et al. Characterization of Sphingomonas aldehyde dehydrogenase catalyzing the conversion of various aromatic aldehydes to their carboxylic acids. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 69, 141–150 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-005-1962-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-005-1962-x

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