Chlorocatechols substituted at positions 4 and 5 are substrates of the broad-spectrum chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase of Pseudomonas chlororaphis RW71.

The nucleotide sequence of a 10,528-bp region comprising the chlorocatechol pathway gene cluster tetRtetCDEF of the 1,2,3,4-tetrachlorobenzene via the tetrachlorocatechol-mineralizing bacterium Pseudomonas chlororaphis RW71 (T. Potrawfke, K. N. Timmis, and R.-M. Wittich, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:3798-3806, 1998) was analyzed. The chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase gene tetC was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant gene product was purified, and the alpha,alpha-homodimeric TetC was characterized. Electron paramagnetic resonance measurements confirmed the presence of a high-spin-state Fe(III) atom per monomer in the holoprotein. The productive transformation by purified TetC of chlorocatechols bearing chlorine atoms in positions 4 and 5 provided strong evidence for a significantly broadened substrate spectrum of this dioxygenase compared with other chlorocatechol dioxygenases. The conversion of 4,5-dichloro- or tetrachlorocatechol, in the presence of catechol, displayed strong competitive inhibition of catechol turnover. 3-Chlorocatechol, however, was simultaneously transformed, with a rate similar to that of the 4,5-halogenated catechols, indicating similar specificity constants. These novel characteristics of TetC thus differ significantly from results obtained from hitherto analyzed catechol 1,2-dioxygenases and chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenases.