Insight into the metabolism of 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) by biphenyl dioxygenases.

In this work we have investigated the ability of the biphenyl dioxygenase of Burkholderia xenovorans LB400 (BphAE(LB400)) and of Pandoraea pnomenusa B356 (BphAE(B356)) to metabolize DDT. Data show BphAE(LB400) is unable to metabolize this substrate but BphAE(B356) metabolizes DDT to produce two stereoisomers. Structural analysis of DDT-docked BphAE(LB400) and BphAE(B356) identified residue Phe336 of BphAE(LB400) as critical to prevent productive binding of DDT to BphAE(LB400). Furthermore, the fact that residue Gly319 of BphAE(B356) is less constrained than Gly321 of BphAE(LB400) most likely contributes to the ability of BphAE(B356) to bind DDT productively. This was confirmed by examining the ability of BphAE chimeras obtained by shuffling bphA genes from strain B356 and LB400. Chimeras where residues Thr335 (which modulates the constraints on Gly321) and Phe336 (which contacts the substrate) of BphAE(LB400) were replaced by Gly and Ile respectively were able to metabolize DDT. However their stereospecificities varied depending on the presence of other segments or residues from BphAE(B356). Structural analysis suggests that either one or both of residue 267 and a segments comprised of residue 247-260 are likely involved in stereospecificity.