Cytochrome c550 from Thiobacillus versutus: cloning, expression in Escherichia coli, and purification of the heterologous holoprotein

The gene coding for cytochrome c550 from Thiobacillus versutus, cycA, has been cloned and sequenced. It codes for a protein of 134 amino acids plus a 19-amino-acid-long signal peptide. Both coding and noncoding DNA sequences of the clone are homologous to the Paracoccus denitrificans DNA sequence. An expression vector was constructed by cloning the cycA gene directly behind the lac promoter of pUC. The cycA gene was expressed in Escherichia coli under semianaerobic conditions, and mature holo-cytochrome c550 was isolated with the periplasmic soluble protein fraction. Under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, significantly less cytochrome c550 was produced. The heterologously expressed cytochrome c550 was isolated and purified to better than 95 % purity and was compared with cytochrome c550 isolated and purified from T. versutus. No structural differences could be detected by using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis UV-visible light spectroscopy, and 'H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, indicating that E. coli produces the cytochrome and attaches the heme correctly. When Thiobacillus versutus is grown on methylamine as its sole carbon and nitrogen source, it produces a set of proteins which enable the bacterium to grow on this sub-strate. Methylamine is oxidized to formaldehyde by methyl