Discovery of a eukaryotic pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent oxidoreductase belonging to a new auxiliary activity family in the database of carbohydrate-active enzymes

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 14;9(8):e104851. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104851. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is a redox cofactor utilized by a number of prokaryotic dehydrogenases. Not all prokaryotic organisms are capable of synthesizing PQQ, even though it plays important roles in the growth and development of many organisms, including humans. The existence of PQQ-dependent enzymes in eukaryotes has been suggested based on homology studies or the presence of PQQ-binding motifs, but there has been no evidence that such enzymes utilize PQQ as a redox cofactor. However, during our studies of hemoproteins, we fortuitously discovered a novel PQQ-dependent sugar oxidoreductase in a mushroom, the basidiomycete Coprinopsis cinerea. The enzyme protein has a signal peptide for extracellular secretion and a domain for adsorption on cellulose, in addition to the PQQ-dependent sugar dehydrogenase and cytochrome domains. Although this enzyme shows low amino acid sequence homology with known PQQ-dependent enzymes, it strongly binds PQQ and shows PQQ-dependent activity. BLAST search uncovered the existence of many genes encoding homologous proteins in bacteria, archaea, amoebozoa, and fungi, and phylogenetic analysis suggested that these quinoproteins may be members of a new family that is widely distributed not only in prokaryotes, but also in eukaryotes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Base Sequence
  • Basidiomycota / enzymology
  • Calorimetry
  • DNA Primers
  • Databases, Protein*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oxidoreductases / chemistry*
  • Oxidoreductases / genetics
  • PQQ Cofactor / chemistry*
  • Phylogeny
  • Pichia / genetics
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • DNA Primers
  • PQQ Cofactor
  • Oxidoreductases

Grants and funding

This work was supported financially by grants from JSPS (No. 21605004 to N. N.), by a Grant-in-Aid for Innovative Areas (No. 24114001 and 24114008 to K. I.) from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, and Technology (MEXT), and by a grant from the Advanced Low Carbon Technology Research and Development Program (ALCA) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) to K. I. and N. N. H. M. was supported by a research fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for Young Scientists (Grant No. 208304) during his postdoc period at the University of Tokyo. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.