Expression, purification and characterization of cytochrome P450 biol: A novel P450 involved in biotin synthesis in Bacillus subtilis

The bioI gene has been sub-cloned and over-expressed in Escherichia coli, and the protein purified to homogeneity. The protein is a cytochrome P450, as indicated by its visible spectrum (low-spin haem iron Soret band at 419 nm) and by the characteristic carbon monoxide-induced shift of the Soret band to 448 nm in the reduced form. N-terminal amino acid sequencing and mass spectrometry indicate that the initiator methionine is removed from cytochrome P450 Biol and that the relative molecular mass is 44,732 Da, consistent with that deduced from the gene sequence. SDS-PAGE indicates that the protein is homogeneous after column chromatography on DE-52 and hydroxyapatite, followed by FPLC on a quaternary ammonium ion-exchange column (Q-Sepharose). The purified protein is of mixed spin-state by both electronic spectroscopy and by electron paramagnetic resonance [g values=2.41, 2.24 and 1.97/1.91 (low-spin) and 8.13, 5.92 and 3.47 (high-spin)]. Magnetic circular dichroism and electron paramagnetic resonance studies indicate that P450 Biol has a cysteine-ligated b-type haem iron and the near-IR magnetic circular dichroism band suggests strongly that the sixth ligand bound to the haem iron is water. Resonance Raman spectroscopy identifies vibrational signals typical of cytochrome P450, notably the oxidation state marker v4 at 1373 cm-1 (indicating ferric P450 haem) and the splitting of the spin-state marker v3 into two components (1503 cm-1 and 1488 cm-1), indicating cytochrome P450 Biol to be a mixture of highand low-spin forms. Fatty acids were found to bind to cytochrome P450 Biol, with myristic acid (Kd=4.18± 0.26 μM) and pentadecanoic acid (Kd=3.58±0.54 μM) having highest affinity. The fatty acid analogue inhibitor 12-imidazolyldodecanoic acid bound extremely tightly (Kd