Formaldehyde dismutase, a novel NAD-binding oxidoreductase from Pseudomonas putida F61

A novel enzyme, formaldehyde dismutase, was purified and crystallized from the cell extract of an isolated bacterium, Pseudomonas putida F61. The enzyme catalyzes the dismutation of aldehydes and alcohol:aldehyde oxidoreduction in the absence of an exogenous electron acceptor. The enzyme is composed of four identical subunits with a Mr of 44 000. Each subunit contains 1 mol NAD(H) and 2 mol zinc/mol. The ratio of NAD+ and NADH in a crystalline preparation of the enzyme was about 7:3. The enzyme-bound coenzyme was completely reduced and oxidized on the addition of a large amount of an alcohol and an aldehyde respectively. Both the oxidized and reduced enzymes catalyzed the dismutation reaction to the same extent. Steady-state kinetics of the enzyme were investigated using an oxidoreduction reaction between an alcohol and p-nitroso-N, N-dimethylaniline. The enzyme obeys a ping-pong mechanism and is competitively inhibited by an alcoholic substrate analogue, pyrazole, but not coenzyme analogues, such as AMP, N-methylnicotinamide. These results indicate that NAD(H) binds firmly (but not covalently) at each active site. The enzyme-bound NAD(H) was reduced and oxidized only by the added second substrates, alcohol and aldehyde respectively, and not by exogenous electron acceptors [including NAD(H)].