New type of oxygenase involved in the metabolism of propane and isobutane.

Nocardia paraffinicum (Rhodococcus rhodochrous), a hydrocarbon-degrading microorganism, was used in a study of propane and isobutane metabolism. The bacterium was able to utilize propane or isobutane as a sole source of carbon, and oxygen was found to be essential for its metabolism. Gas chromatographic analysis showed that n-propanol was the major compound recovered from the metabolism of propane by resting cells, although trace amounts of isopropanol and acetone were detected. When a mixture of propane and isobutane was used, drastic inhibition (72 to 88%) of hydrocarbon utilization by resting cells occurred. The ratio of hydrocarbon to oxygen consumed was found to be approximately 2:1 during the metabolism of propane or isobutane by resting cells when these substrates were provided individually to the organism. Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of products formed from O(2) confirmed that the initial oxidative step in the metabolism of these substrates involved molecular oxygen. The proportion of the alcohol containing O was the same as that of O(2) in the gas mixture. Only a negligible amount of O was detected in the alcohol when H(2)O was incorporated into the system. The observed 2:1 ratio of hydrocarbon to oxygen consumption suggests that the oxygenase in N. paraffinicum, unlike the conventional mono- or dioxygenases, requires two hydrocarbon-binding sites for each of the oxygen-binding sites and is therefore an intermolecular dioxygenase. The newly described oxygenase, which catalyzes the reaction of two molecules of propane with one molecule of oxygen to yield two molecules of a C(3) alcohol, is proposed as the initial oxidation step of the hydrocarbon substrate.