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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 277, Issue 5, 3069-3072, February 1, 2002
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§,
§¶
,
**,

From the The formation of
S-hydroxymethylglutathione from formaldehyde and
glutathione is a central reaction in the consumption of the cytotoxin
formaldehyde in some methylotrophic bacteria as well as in many other
organisms. We describe here the discovery of an enzyme from
Paracoccus denitrificans that accelerates this spontaneous
condensation reaction. The rates of
S-hydroxymethylglutathione formation and cleavage were
determined under equilibrium conditions via two-dimensional proton
exchange NMR spectroscopy. The pseudo first order rate constants
k1* were estimated from the temperature dependence of the reaction and the signal to noise ratio of the uncatalyzed reaction. At 303 K and pH 6.0 k1*
was found to be 0.02 s
Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische
Mikrobiologie, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany, the
¶ Institut für Organische Chemie der Universität
Frankfurt, Marie-Curie-Strasse 11, 60439 Frankfurt a.M., Germany, and
the Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Am Fassberg
11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
1 for the spontaneous reaction. A
10-fold increase of the rate constant was observed upon addition of
cell extract from P. denitrificans grown in the presence of
methanol corresponding to a specific activity of 35 units
mg
1. Extracts of cells grown in the presence of succinate
revealed a lower specific activity of 11 units mg
1. The
enzyme catalyzing the conversion of formaldehyde and glutathione was
purified and named glutathione-dependent
formaldehyde-activating enzyme (Gfa). The gene gfa is
located directly upstream of the gene for
glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase, which catalyzes the subsequent oxidation of
S-hydroxymethylglutathione. Putative proteins with sequence
identity to Gfa from P. denitrificans are present also in
Rhodobacter sphaeroides, Sinorhizobium meliloti, and
Mesorhizobium loti.
The on-line version of this article (available at
http://www.jbc.org) contains Supplemental Figs. 2 and 3.
§
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Supported by a Kekulé stipend of the Fonds der
Chemischen Industrie.
**
Supported by the Peter and Traudl Engelhorn Stiftung.

To whom correspondence should be addressed: INRA/CNRS, BP27
Chemin de Borde Rouge, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France. Tel.:
33-5-61-28-54-58; Fax: 33-5-61-28-50-61; E-mail:
vorholt@toulouse.inra.fr.
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