Reduction of 2-, 4- and 5-nitroimidazole drugs by hydrogenase 1 in Clostridium pasteurianum

Highly-purified bidirectional hydrogenase (hydrogenase 1) of Clostridium pasteurianum could rapidly reduce several 2-, 4- and 5-nitroimidazole compounds via an electron carrier-coupled mechanism. Hydrogenase 1 was also shown to reduce a 2-nitroimidazole (misonidazole) and a 4-nitroimidazole in the presence of its required electron carriers including ferredoxin, the flavin coenzymes FAD and FMN, and the low potential electron carrier dyes methyl- and benzyl-viologen. No drug reduction by hydrogenase 1 occurred when any one of these electron carriers was replaced by nicotinamide electron carriers (NAD and NADP), or was omitted from the reaction mixture. The rates of reduction of the nitroimidazole compounds correlated with their one electron reduction potentials at pH 7(E7(1)); the higher the drug's E7(1), the faster its rate of reduction by the enzyme. Reduction rates for the drugs did not correlate with the antibacterial activity of these compounds against C. pasteurianum, suggesting that other factors are also important in determining the antimicrobial potencies of nitroimidazoles.