Quercetinase (QueD) of Streptomyces sp. FLA is an enzyme of the monocupin family and catalyzes the 2,4-dioxygenolytic cleavage of the flavonol quercetin. After expression of the queD gene in Escherichia coli, high specific QueD activity was found in crude cell extracts when the growth medium was supplemented with NiCl 2 or CoCl 2, but not when Mn (2+), Fe (2+), Cu (2+), or Zn (2+) was added. The metal occupancy of Ni- and Co-QueD purified from these cells was

Corynebacterium glutamicum, a Gram-positive soil bacterium belonging to the mycolic acids-containing actinomycetes, is able to use the lignin degradation products ferulate, vanillate, and protocatechuate as sole carbon sources. The gene cluster responsible for vanillate catabolism was identified and characterized. The vanAB genes encoding vanillate demethylase are organized in an operon together with the vanK gene, coding for a transport system most likely responsible for protocatechuate uptake. While gene disruption mutagenesis revealed that vanillate demethylase is indispensable for ferulate and vanillate utilization, a vanK mutation does not lead to a complete growth arrest but to a decreased growth rate on protocatechuate, indicating that one or more additional protocatechuate transporter(s) are present in C. glutamicum.

Teaching old dogs new tricks: Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) may be established redox biocatalysts but they still are good for a few surprises. ADHs can be used to oxidize aldehydes, and this was demonstrated by the oxidative dynamic kinetic resolution of profens. In the presence of a suitable cofactor regeneration system, this reaction can occur with high selectivity.