An enzymic method for the microestimation of trimethylamine

A microbial biosensor for trimethylamine using Pseudomonas aminovorans cells

A biosensor system based on the difference in the oxygen uptake response of two microbial electrodes was developed to monitor trimethylamine (TMA). The first electrode, constructed using Pseudomonas aminovorans grown on TMA, was sensitive to TMA, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), dimethylamine (DMA) and monomethylamine (MMA). The second electrode responding to TMAO, DMA and MMA was prepared using Ps. aminovorans grown on TMAO. The difference in oxygen uptake was linearly related to the TMA concentration in the range of 5-26 microM. The minimum detectable level was 2.6 microM and the relative standard deviation was determined to be 14% for 16 repeated analyses. When operated and stored at 30 degrees C, the response of the system was stable for only 2 days. However, when the biosensor system was operated at 30 degrees C but stored overnight at 4 degrees C, the system was stable up to 20 days. The biosensor system was applicable for the determination of TMA in fish tissue extracts and the results compared well with those determined by HPLC.

Mechanistic studies on the dehydrogenases of methylotrophic bacteria. 1. The influence of substrate binding to reduced trimethylamine dehydrogenase on the intramolecular electron transfer between its prosthetic groups

The trimethylamine dehydrogenase of bacterium W3A1 is reduced with the formation of a triplet state in which two electrons, derived from the substrate, are distributed between the [4Fe-4S] cluster and 6-S-cysteinyl-FMN semiquinone. In titration experiments at pH 8.5 about 1.0 mol of dimethylamine or 0.5 mol of trimethylamine per mol of the enzyme is required to titrate the enzyme to an endpoint. At pH values less than 8.0, however, an excess of trimethylamine is required to obtain maximal yield of the g = 4 e.p.r. signal, characteristic of the triplet state, or maximal absorbance at 365 nm which indicates formation of the flavin semiquinone. The binding of 0.86 mol of trimethylamine per mol of the enzyme could be detected by a gel chromatographic method. When the enzyme is titrated with dithionite in the presence of tetramethylammonium chloride, an endpoint is reached after the uptake of two electrons which give rise to the triplet state, whereas three electrons are consumed in the absence of tetramethylammonium chloride to reduce the enzyme completely. The enzyme is inhibited noncompetitively by tetramethylammonium chloride and the slopes of double reciprocal plots are a concave upwards function of inhibitor concentration. The data indicate the presence of a binding site for the substrate and other amines on the reduced enzyme which enhances the proportion of enzyme in the triplet state.