Partitioning of tetrahydro- and dihydrobisfuran formation in aflatoxin biosynthesis defined by cell-free and direct incorporation experiments

Purification and Characterization of O-Methyltransferase I Involved in Conversion of Demethylsterigmatocystin to Sterigmatocystin and of Dihydrodemethylsterigmatocystin to Dihydrosterigmatocystin during Aflatoxin Biosynthesis

O-Methyltransferase I, which catalyzes conversions both of demethylsterigmatocystin (DMST) to sterigmatocystin (ST) and of dihydrodemethylsterigmatocystin (DHDMST) to dihydrosterigmatocystin (DHST) during aflatoxin biosynthesis, was purified to apparent homogeneity from the cytosol fraction of the mycelia of Aspergillus parasiticus NIAH-26 through the following chromatography series: phenyl-Sepharose, DEAE-Sepharose, phenyl-Sepharose, Sephacryl S-300, and Matrex gel Green A. The apparent molecular mass was estimated at 150 kDa based on Sephacryl S-300 gel filtration chromatography, and the denaturing molecular mass was 43 kDa based on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The pI of the enzyme was 4.4, and the optimal pH for activity was broad, from 6.5 to 9.0. In competition experiments using the purified enzyme, the formation of ST from DMST was suppressed when DHDMST was added to the reaction mixture and DHST was newly formed. These results indicate that DMST and DHDMST commonly serve as substrates for the enzyme. The K(m) of the enzyme for DMST was 0.94 muM, and that for DHDMST was 2.5 muM. Interestingly, MT-I kinetics deviated substantially from standard Michaelis-Menten kinetics, demonstrating substrate inhibition at a higher substrate concentration.

Syntheses of Tetrahydrofurobenzofurans and Dihydromethanobenzodioxepines from 5-Hydroxy-3-methyl-3H-benzofuran-2-one. Rearrangement and Ring Expansion under Reductive Conditions on Treatment with Hydrides

5-Hydroxy-3-methyl-3H-benzofuran-2-one, 5, easily obtained from pyruvic acid and 1,4-cyclohexanedione, was used as a starting material to prepare (+/-)-5-hydroxy-3a-methyl-2,3,3a,8a-tetrahydro-furo[2,3-b]benzofuran, 10, and (+/-)-7-hydroxy-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-2,5-methano-1,3-benzodioxepine, 14. Reduced reactivity relative to 5-hydroxy-3-methoxycarbonylmethylene-3-methyl-3H-benzofuran-2-one, 6, was preliminarily studied. Meanwhile, a plausible mechanism with regard to the formation of 10 and 14, which included cyclization, rearrangement, and ring expansion of hemiacetal, 15, is proposed. Specific carbamates of phenols, 10 and 14, have shown impressive inhibitory activities against human acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) ex vivo.

Synthesis and fate of o-carboxybenzophenones in the biosynthesis of aflatoxin

o-Carboxybenzophenones have long been postulated to be intermediates in the oxidative rearrangement of anthraquinone natural products to xanthones in vivo. Many of these Baeyer-Villiger-like cleavages are believed to be carried out by cytochrome P450 enzymes. In the biosynthesis of the fungal carcinogen, aflatoxin, six cytochromes P450 are encoded by the biosynthetic gene cluster. One of these, AflN, is known to be involved in the conversion of the anthraquinone versicolorin A (3) to the xanthone demethylsterigmatocystin (5) en route to the mycotoxin. An aryl deoxygenation, however, also takes place in this overall transformation and is proposed to be due to the requirement that an NADPH-dependent oxidoreductase, AflM, be active for this process to take place. What is known about other fungal anthraquinone --> xanthone conversions is reviewed, notably, the role of the o-carboxybenzophenone sulochrin (25) in geodin (26) biosynthesis. On the basis of mutagenesis experiments in the aflatoxin pathway and these biochemical precedents, total syntheses of a tetrahydroxy-o-carboxybenzophenone bearing a fused tetrahydrobisfuran and its 15-deoxy homologue are described. The key steps of the syntheses entail rearrangement of a 1,2-disubstituted alkene bearing an electron-rich benzene ring under Kikuchi conditions to give the 2-aryl aldehyde 43 followed by silyltriflate closure to a differentially protected dihydrobenzofuran 44. Regiospecific bromination, conversion to the substituted benzoic acid, and condensation with an o-bromobenzyl alcohol gave esters 47 and 50. The latter could be rearranged with strong base, oxidized, and deprotected to the desired o-carboxybenzophenones. These potential biosynthetic intermediates were examined in whole-cell and ground-cell experiments for their ability to support aflatoxin formation in the blocked mutant DIS-1, defective in its ability to synthesize the first intermediate in the pathway, norsolorinic acid. Against expectation, neither of these compounds was converted into aflatoxin under conditions where the anthraquinones versicolorin A and B readily afforded aflatoxins B1 and B2. This outcome is evaluated further in a companion paper appearing later in this journal.

Synthesis of 11-hydroxyl O-methylsterigmatocystin and the role of a cytochrome P-450 in the final step of aflatoxin biosynthesis

The major skeletal rearrangements (anthraquinone --> xanthone --> coumarin) that occur in the complex biosynthesis of aflatoxin B(1) are mediated by cytochromes P-450. Previous experiments have suggested that two successive monooxygenase reactions are required to convert the xanthone O-methylsterigmatocystin (OMST) to aflatoxin, a process we demonstrate is mediated by a single P-450, OrdA, in Aspergillus parasiticus in accord with findings in A. flavus. The first oxidative cycle is proposed to result in the formation of 11-hydroxy O-methylsterigmatocystin (HOMST), while the second entails aryl ring cleavage, demethylation, dehydration, decarboxylation, and rearrangement to give aflatoxin - a remarkable sequence of transformations. To test this hypothesis, HOMST has been synthesized by an alkylnitrilium variant of the Houben-Hoesch reaction. The troublesome xanthone carbonyl was protected as a butylene to allow further elaboration of the molecule, and then the product xanthone was restored in a uniquely facile peracid deprotection. Methods were devised to construct the sensitive dihydrobisfuran and to maintain the oxidation state of the partially methylated hydroquinone. Expression of ordA in a yeast membrane preparation enabled the intermediacy of HOMST both to be detected in the conversion of OMST to aflatoxin and to be established directly in the biosynthesis of the mycotoxin. Having secured the role of HOMST in aflatoxin formation, the mechanism of the second oxidative cycle of this P-450 is considered.

Aspergillus nidulans stcL encodes a putative cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase required for bisfuran desaturation during aflatoxin/sterigmatocystin biosynthesis

The Aspergillus nidulans stcL gene is predicted to encode a cytochrome P-450 monooxygenase and is located within a cluster of other genes that are required for synthesis of sterigmatocystin. Inactivation of stcL resulted in strains that accumulate dihydrosterigmatocystin, a tetrahydrobisfuran containing molecule that is very similar to the unsaturated product of the wild-type pathway, sterigmatocystin. This observation led us to hypothesize that the A. nidulans sterigmatocystin biosynthetic pathway is branched similarly to the aflatoxin pathway in Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus flavus and that StcL is required for the desaturation of the bisfuran moiety in the sterigmatocystin/aflatoxin precursor versicolorin B. This prediction was confirmed by feeding the stcL mutant with the subsequent pathway intermediate, versicolorin A, which resulted in accumulation of both sterigmatocystin and dihydrosterigmatocystin, indicating that StcL functions before versicolorin A synthesis. A. nidulans stcU was shown previously to encode a ketoreductase required to convert versicolorin A to demethylsterigmatocystin and an stcL, stcU double mutant strain was shown here to accumulate only versicolorin B. These results indicate that both versicolorin A and versicolorin B can serve as substrates for StcU, resulting in a branched pathway. The final product of each branch are sterigmatocystin and dihydrosterigmatocystin, respectively.

Heterologous expression, isolation, and characterization of versicolorin B synthase from Aspergillus parasiticus. A key enzyme in the aflatoxin B1 biosynthetic pathway

Aflatoxin B1 is a potent environmental carcinogen produced by certain strains of Aspergillus. Central to the biosynthesis of this mycotoxin is the reaction catalyzed by versicolorin B synthase (VBS) in which a racemic substrate, versiconal hemiacetal, is cyclized to an optically active product whose absolute configuration is crucial to the interaction of aflatoxin B1 with DNA. Attempted over-production of VBS in Escherichia coli led principally to protein aggregated into inclusion bodies but also small amounts of soluble but catalytically inactive enzyme. Comparisons to wild-type VBS by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and after N-glycosidase F treatment revealed that extensive glycosylation accounted for the mass discrepancy (7,000+/-1,500 Da) between the native and bacterially expressed proteins. Several over-expression systems in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were surveyed in which one that incorporated a secretion signal was found most successful. VBS of indistinguishable mass on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and kinetic properties from the wild-type enzyme could be obtained in 50-100-fold greater amounts and whose catalytic behavior has been examined. The translated protein sequence of VBS showed three potential N-glycosylation sites (Asn-Xaa-Ser/Thr) consistent with the modifications observed above and unexpectedly revealed extensive homology to the ADP-binding region prominently conserved in the glucose-methanol-choline (GMC) family of flavoenzymes. Over-production of VBS in yeast marks the first aflatoxin biosynthetic enzyme to be so obtained and opens the way to direct study of the enzymology of this complex biosynthetic pathway.

Purification and characterization of versicolorin B synthase from Aspergillus parasiticus. Catalysis of the stereodifferentiating cyclization in aflatoxin biosynthesis essential to DNA interaction

The absolute configuration of the dihydrobisfuran ring system characteristic of aflatoxin B1 is essential to the covalent reaction of its metabolically activated form with double-stranded DNA. The biosynthesis of this potent mycotoxin proceeds through three configurationally labile intermediates to racemic versiconal hemiacetal. Subsequent enzymatic cyclization establishes the stereochemistry of this, critical ring fusion in (-)-versicolorin B and is catalyzed by versicolorin B synthase (VBS). The isolation and purification of VBS from Aspergillus parasiticus (SU-1, ATCC 56775) and its kinetic characterization and attempted inactivation are described. Initial purification trials were plagued both by a chromophoric impurity which was difficult to remove and by low recoveries of active protein. The discovery of a remarkably broad pH range of enzyme stability and catalytic activity led to an efficient procedure involving preparative isoelectric focusing and ion exchange FPLC chromatography. The enzyme behaved as a dimer upon gel filtration and migrated with M(r) 78000 Da during denaturing gel electrophoresis. The UV spectrum of pure VBS gave no evidence of a bound chromophore. Detailed kinetic analysis of VBS revealed that this protein selects from two equilibrating enantiomers of versiconal hemiacetal to cyclize the appropriate antipode to optically pure versicolorin B. By varying the amount of enzyme to a fixed concentration of substrate, the rate of enzymic cyclization could be limited by the intrinsic rate of enantiomerization of the substrate under the conditions of reaction. It was possible to quantitate the dynamics of this substrate enantiomerization/cyclization process, to establish the role played by VBS, and to evaluate the significance of each to the overall biosynthesis of aflatoxin. The potential role of an acidic residue of the enzyme in catalysis was supported by analysis of the pH-rate profile of VBS and chemical labeling studies. Successful demonstration of competitive inhibition of VBS by a simple substrate analogue led to the design and synthesis of a potential mechanism-based inactivator of the protein.

Isolation and characterization of the versicolorin B synthase gene from Aspergillus parasiticus. Expansion of the aflatoxin b1 biosynthetic gene cluster

Versicolorin B synthase catalyzes the side chain cyclization of racemic versiconal hemiacetal to the bisfuran ring system of(-)-versicolorin B, an essential transformation in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway of Aspergillus parasiticus. The dihydrobisfuran is key to the mutagenic nature of aflatoxin B1. The protein, which shows 58% similarity and 38% identity with glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger, possesses an amino-terminal sequence homologous to the ADP-binding region of other flavoenzymes. However, this enzyme does not require flavin or nicotinamide cofactors for its cyclase activity. The 643-amino acid native enzyme contains three potential sites for N-linked glycosylation, Asn-Xaa-Thr or Asn-Xaa-Ser. The cDNA and genomic clones of versicolorin B synthase were isolated by screening the respective libraries with random-primed DNA probes generated from an exact copy of an internal vbs sequence. This probe was created through polymerase chain reaction by using nondegenerate polymerase chain reaction primers derived from the amino acid sequences of peptide fragments of the enzyme. The 1985-base genomic vbs DNA sequence is interrupted by one intron of 53 nucleotides. Southern blotting, nucleotide sequencing, and detailed restriction mapping of the vbs-containing genomic clones revealed the presence of omtA, a methyltransferase active in the biosynthesis, 3.3 kilobases upstream of vbs and oriented in the opposite direction from vbs. The presence of omtA in close proximity to vbs supports the theory that the genes encoding the aflatoxin biosynthetic enzymes in A. parasiticus are clustered.

Characterization of the polyketide synthase gene (pksL1) required for aflatoxin biosynthesis in Aspergillus parasiticus

Aflatoxins are potent toxic and carcinogenic compounds, produced by Aspergillus parasiticus and A. flavus as secondary metabolites. In this research, a polyketide synthase gene (pksL1), the key gene for aflatoxin biosynthesis initiation in A. parasiticus, has been functionally identified and molecularly characterized. PCR-derived DNA probes were used to find the pksL1 gene from subtracted, aflatoxin-related clones. Gene knockout experiments generated four pksL1 disruptants which lost both the ability to produce aflatoxins B1, B2, and G1 and the ability to accumulate norsolorinic acid and all other intermediates of the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway. A pksL1 DNA probe detected a 6.6-kb poly(A)+ RNA transcript in Northern (RNA) hybridizations. This transcript, associated with aflatoxin production, exhibited a regulated expression that was influenced by growth phase, medium composition, and culture temperature. DNA sequencing of pksL1 revealed an open reading frame for a polypeptide (PKSL1) of 2,109 amino acids. Sequence analysis further recognized four functional domains in PKSL1, acyl carrier protein, beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase, acyltransferase, and thioesterase, all of which are usually present in polyketide synthases and fatty acid synthases. On the basis of these results, we propose that pksL1 encodes the polyketide synthase which synthesizes the backbone polyketide and initiates aflatoxin biosynthesis. In addition, the transcript of pksL1 exhibited heterogeneity at the polyadenylation site similar to that of plant genes.

Comparative mapping of aflatoxin pathway gene clusters in Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus flavus

Aflatoxins are toxic and carcinogenic secondary metabolites produced by the fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. Aflatoxins are synthesized by condensation of acetate units; their synthesis is estimated to involve at least 16 different enzymes. In this study we have shown that at least nine genes involved in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway are located within a 60-kb DNA fragment. Four of these genes, nor-1, aflR, ver-1, and omtA (previously named omt-1), have been cloned in A. flavus and A. parasiticus. In addition, five other genes, pksA, uvm8, aad, ord-1, and ord-2 have been recently cloned in A. parasiticus. The pksA, aad, and uvm8 genes exhibit sequence homologies to polyketide synthase, aryl-alcohol dehydrogenase, and fatty acid synthase genes, respectively. The cDNA sequences of ord-1 and ord-2 genes, which may be involved in later steps of aflatoxin biosynthesis, have been determined; the ord-1 gene product exhibits homology to cytochrome P-450-type enzymes. By characterizing the overlapping regions of the DNA inserts in different cosmid and lambda DNA clones, we have determined the order of these aflatoxin pathway genes within this 60-kb DNA region to be pksA, nor-1, uvm8, aflR, aad, ver-1, ord-1, ord-2, and omtA in A. parasiticus and nor-1, aflR, ver-1, ord-1, ord-2, and omtA in A. flavus. The order is related to the order in enzymatic steps required for aflatoxin biosynthesis. The physical distances (in kilobase pairs) and the directions of transcription of these genes have been determined for both aflatoxigenic species.

A red pigment synthesized by an Aspergillus parasiticus mutant as a possible new intermediate in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway

The isolation of a red pigment from an Aspergillus parasiticus mutant obtained by 366 nm u.v. light treatment of A. parasiticus NRRL 2999 is described. Studies of conversion in aflatoxin B1 and G1 suggest that the red pigment could be a possible new intermediate in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway not described to date, and this has been verified by studies in gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The solubility and stability characteristics under refrigeration storage, and the influence of the temperature and the pH on its production by the A. parasiticus mutant were also studied. It grew best at 30 degrees C and pH 6. The red pigment was most soluble in ethyl acetate. The results obtained in water are emphasized where there was high stability.

Cloning and characterization of a cDNA from Aspergillus parasiticus encoding an O-methyltransferase involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis

Aflatoxins are polyketide-derived secondary metabolites produced by the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Among the catalytic steps in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway, the conversion of sterigmatocystin to O-methylsterigmatocystin and the conversion of dihydrosterigmatocystin to dihydro-O-methylsterigmatocystin are catalyzed by an S-adenosylmethionine-dependent O-methyltransferase. A cDNA library was constructed by using RNA isolated from a 24-h-old culture of wild-type A. parasiticus SRRC 143 and was screened by using polyclonal antiserum raised against a purified 40-kDa O-methyltransferase protein. A clone that harbored a full-length cDNA insert (1,460 bp) containing the 1,254-bp coding region of the gene omt-1 was identified by the antiserum and isolated. The complete cDNA sequence was determined, and the corresponding 418-amino-acid sequence of the native enzyme with a molecular weight of 46,000 was deduced. This 46-kDa native enzyme has a leader sequence of 41 amino acids, and the mature form of the enzyme apparently consists of 377 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 42,000. Direct sequencing of the purified mature enzyme from A. parasiticus SRRC 163 showed that 19 of 22 amino acid residues were identical to the amino acid residues in an internal region of the deduced amino acid sequence of the mature protein. The 1,460-bp omt-1 cDNA was cloned into an Escherichia coli expression system; a Western blot (immunoblot) analysis of crude extracts from this expression system revealed a 51-kDa fusion protein (fused with a 5-kDa beta-galactosidase N-terminal fragment).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Purification and properties of versiconal cyclase from Aspergillus parasiticus

Versiconal cyclase catalyzes the dehydration of versiconal to versicolorin B or versicolorin C [versicolorin B(C)]. The enzyme was purified from mycelia of Aspergillus parasiticus by DEAE-cellulose, hydroxylapatite, and Mono Q column chromatography. The protein contains two identical subunits of molecular weight 72,000 per molecule of native protein. The pI of the enzyme is 3.95. The pH activity curve had a broad maximum with a peak at 5.5. The Km and Vmax for versiconal at 30 degrees C and pH 6.0 are 3.1 microM and 0.15 mumol min-1mg-1, respectively. Most of the formation of versicolorin B(C) in the cell is attributed to the action of versiconal cyclase.