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BackgroundVarious Pseudomonas strains can use l-lactate as their sole carbon source for growth. However, the l-lactate-utilizing enzymes in Pseudomonas have never been identified and further studied.Methodology/Principal FindingsAn NAD-independent l-lactate dehydrogenase (l-iLDH) was purified from the membrane fraction of Pseudomonas stutzeri SDM. The enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of l-lactate to pyruvate by using FMN as cofactor. After cloning its encoding gene (lldD), l-iLDH was successfully expressed, purified from a recombinant Escherichia coli strain, and characterized. An lldD mutant of P. stutzeri SDM was constructed by gene knockout technology. This mutant was unable to grow on l-lactate, but retained the ability to grow on pyruvate.Conclusions/SignificanceIt is proposed that l-iLDH plays an indispensable function in Pseudomonas l-lactate utilization by catalyzing the conversion of l-lactate into pyruvate.

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The Coronavirus Disease 2019 appeared in December 2019 in China and has infected more than 100,000 patients in China since then. After MDT (multi-disciplinary team treatment), more than 60,000 patients were cured and discharged from the isolation wards of designated hospitals. All of the discharged patients were negative as assayed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.Based on Chinese government guidelines, these discharge patients needed to remain in isolation in the home for 2 weeks followed by additional follow-up nucleic acid testing and chest CT examination. However, some discharged patients have retested positive using nucleic acid tests. Reports of these scattered cases have drawn huge scrutiny. Unfortunately, there are some relevant issues needing resolution. First, the capacity for transmission between persons with these patients after positive diagnosis still needs to be determined. Second, the features of serial chest CT scans need to be analyzed to improve our awareness of these cases. Finally, the reason causing these positive retest results should be discussed.We report here the serial CT examination features of two cluster transmission cases with positive follow-up nucleic acid test results after discharge.

NAD-independent L-lactate dehydrogenases (L-iLDHs) play important roles in L-lactate utilization of different organisms. All of the previously reported L-iLDHs were flavoproteins that catalyze the oxidation of L-lactate by the flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-dependent mechanism. Based on comparative genomic analysis, a gene cluster with three genes (lldA, lldB, and lldC) encoding a novel type of L-iLDH was identified in Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501. When the gene cluster was expressed in Escherichia coli, distinctive L-iLDH activity was detected. The expressed L-iLDH was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion-exchange chromatography, and affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE and successive matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis of the purified L-iLDH indicated that it is a complex of LldA, LldB, and LldC (encoded by lldA, lldB, and lldC, respectively). Purified L-iLDH (LldABC) is a dimer of three subunits (LldA, LldB, and LldC), and the ratio between LldA, LldB, and LldC is 1:1:1. Different from the FMN-containing L-iLDH, absorption spectra and elemental analysis suggested that LldABC might use the iron-sulfur cluster for the L-lactate oxidation. LldABC has narrow substrate specificity, and only L-lactate and DL-2-hydrobutyrate were rapidly oxidized. Mg 2؉ could activate L-iLDH activity effectively (6.6-fold). Steady-state kinetics indicated a ping-pong mechanism of LldABC for the L-lactate oxidation. Based on the gene knockout results, LldABC was confirmed to be required for the L-lactate metabolism of P. stutzeri A1501. LldABC is the first purified and characterized L-iLDH with different subunits that uses the iron-sulfur cluster as the cofactor. IMPORTANCEProviding new insights into the diversity of microbial lactate utilization could assist in the production of valuable chemicals and understanding microbial pathogenesis. An NAD-independent L-lactate dehydrogenase (L-iLDH) encoded by the gene cluster lldABC is indispensable for the L-lactate metabolism in Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501. This novel type of enzyme was purified and characterized in this study. Different from the well-characterized FMN-containing L-iLDH in other microbes, LldABC in P. stutzeri A1501 is a dimer of three subunits (LldA, LldB, and LldC) and uses the iron-sulfur cluster as a cofactor.

BackgroundNAD-independent l-lactate dehydrogenase (l-iLDH) from Pseudomonas stutzeri SDM can potentially be used for the kinetic resolution of small aliphatic 2-hydroxycarboxylic acids. However, this enzyme showed rather low activity towards aromatic 2-hydroxycarboxylic acids.ResultsVal-108 of l-iLDH was changed to Ala by rationally site-directed mutagenesis. The l-iLDH mutant exhibited much higher activity than wide-type l-iLDH towards l-mandelate, an aromatic 2-hydroxycarboxylic acid. Using the engineered Escherichia coli expressing the mutant l-iLDH as a biocatalyst, 40 g·L-1 of dl-mandelic acid was converted to 20.1 g·L-1 of d-mandelic acid (enantiomeric purity higher than 99.5%) and 19.3 g·L-1 of benzoylformic acid.ConclusionsA new biocatalyst with high catalytic efficiency toward an unnatural substrate was constructed by rationally re-design mutagenesis. Two building block intermediates (optically pure d-mandelic acid and benzoylformic acid) were efficiently produced by the one-pot biotransformation system.

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