Abstract

Serratia marcecens 2CC-1 utilizes quinaldic acid (quinoline 2-carboxylic acid) as sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy. Growth of strain 2CC-1 on quinaldic acid as well as on nicotinic acid and hypoxanthine was inhibited completely by the molybdate antagonist tungstate, whereas growth on kynurenic acid and 6-hydroxynicotinic acid was not affected by tungstate. The synthesis of the molybdenum-containing hydroxylases quinaldic acid 4-oxidoreductase and nicotinic acid 6-oxidoreductase was found to be inducible. In addition, Serratia marcescens 2CC-1 produced a constitutively expressed xanthine oxidoreductase. Quinaldic acid 4-oxidoreductase was purified 1075-fold with a recovery of 5%. For catalytic activity, artificial electron acceptors were necessary. The 95-100-kDa enzyme was a heterodimer with subunit molecular masses of 75-80 kDa and 18-19 kDa. Quinaldic acid 4-oxidoreductase contained 2.3-3.7 g atom of iron and 0.5-0.6 g atom of molybdenum per mol of enzyme. The absorption spectrum exhibited maxima at 280 nm, 334 nm, 480 nm and a shoulder at 550 nm, with A280/A334 = 4.8, A280/A450 = 10.0, A280/A480 = 9.4, and A450/A550 = 1.6, suggesting the absence of a flavin cofactor. Acridine, quinacrine, ethylenediaminetetraacetate, 2,2'-dipyridyl, 1,10-phenanthroline and iodoacetate did not affect enzyme activity. p-Hydroxymercuribenzoate, m-arsenite, cyanide and methanol were effective inhibitors of quinaldic acid 4-oxidoreductase. Cyanide-inhibited enzyme was reactivated by treatment with S2-, indicating the presence of a pterin molybdenum cofactor with a monooxo-monosulfidotype molybdenum center. Quinaldic acid 4-oxidoreductase showed a very high substrate specificity, quinaldic acid being the only substrate found to be transformed significantly.