Papaverine degradation with papaverine mutants of a Nocardia sp.

Nocardia mutants, capable of utilizing papaverine as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen, were induced with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and mitomycin C. The isolated mutants were divided in four groups, depending on the accumulated papaverine metabolites: 4 = 2-(2-hydroxy-4,5-dimethoxyphenyl)ethanol; 5 = 3,4-dimethoxyphenylacetic acid; 6 = 2-hydroxy-4,5-dimethoxyphenylacetic acid; 10 = 3-(3,4-dimethoxybenzyl)-2-hydroxy-5,6-dimethoxy-1-indenone; 11 = 4-(3,4-dimethoxybenzyl)-6,7-dimethoxyisocoumarin. The degrading pathway of metabolites 5 and 6 was investigated. Studies of the cell wall and membrane fraction of the mutants and wild-type show two inducible, particle-bound proteins with the molecular mass of 29 000 and 60 000 Da involved in papaverine degradation.