Evidence for a complex of three beta-oxidation enzymes in Escherichia coli: induction and localization

The enzymes for beta-oxidation of fatty acids in inducible and constitutive strains of Escherichia coli were assayed in soluble and membrane fractions of disrupted cells by using fatty acid and acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) substrates containing either 4 or 16 carbon atoms in the acyl moieties. Cell fractionation was monitored, using succinic dehydrogenase as a membrane marker and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase as a soluble marker. Acyl-CoA synthetase activity was detected exclusively in the membrane fraction, whereas acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase, and 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase activities that utilized both C4 and C16 acyl-CoA substrates were isolated from the soluble fraction. 3-Hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase, and 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase activities assayed with both C4 and C16 acyl-CoA substrates co-chromatographed on gel filtration and ion-exchange columns and cosedimented in glycerol gradients. The data show that these three enzyme activities of the fad regulon can be isolated as a multienzyme complex. This complex dissociates in very dilute preparations; however, in those preparations where the three activities are separated, the fractionated species retain activity with both C4 and C16 acyl-CoA substrates.