Purification and properties of the methanol dehydrogenase from Methylophilus methylotrophus

1. A dye-linked methanol dehydrogenase, resembling many others from a variety of methylotrophic bacteria, was purified to homogeneity from extracts of methanol-grown Methylophilus methylotrophus. 2. The enzyme was very stable in the presence of methanol; in the absence of methanol it had a half-life of 1-2 days at 4 degrees C. 3. The value of A1% 1cm,280 was 17.5. 4. The enzyme retained bound methanol after passage through Sephadex G-25. This tightly-bound methanol slowly exchanged with free [14C]-methanol from a value of 0.27 mol of [14C]methanol/mol of enzyme after 48 h incubation at 4 degrees C to a limiting value of approx. 2.5 mol of [14C]methanol/mol of enzyme after 3 weeks incubation at 4 degrees C. 5. One mol of this enzyme reduced 89.4 mol of 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol (via phenazine methosulphate) in the absence of any additional methanol in the assay mixture. The source of the electrons involved in this reduction is not known.