CHARACTERIZATION OF D-ARABINONO-1,4-LACTONE OXIDASE FROM CANDIDA-ALBICANS ATCC-10231

D-Erythroascorbic acid was detected from the cell extracts of a dimorphic fungus, Candida albicans. Its concentration in yeast cells grown at 25 degrees C was estimated to be about 0.45 mu mol/ml cell water. D-Arabinono-1,4-lactone oxidase, which catalyses the final step in the biosynthesis of D-erythroascorbic acid, was purified 639-fold from the mitochondrial fraction of C. albicans to apparent homogeneity, with an overall yield of 21.2%, by a purification procedure consisting of Triton X-100 solubilisation, ammonium sulphate precipitation, anion-exchange, hydrophobic-interaction, gel-filtration and dye-ligand chromatographies. Gel-filtration chromatography and polyacrylamide-gradient gel electrophoresis in the presence of deoxycholate gave apparent molecular masses of 110 kDa and 84.4 kDa, respectively. SDS/PAGE showed only one protein band corresponding to a molecular mass of 66.7 kDa. Considering the binding of detergents, the enzyme is suggested to be a single polypeptide. The enzyme showed a typical fluorescence excitation spectrum of a flavin-containing enzyme. The flavin was not released by treatment with SDS, CCl3CO2H or boiling, indicating that it may be covalently bound to the enzyme protein. The enzyme was;optimally active at 40 degrees C and at pH 6.1. The enzyme was stable in the range pH 7.5-10. An apparent K-m value for D-arabinono-1,4-lactone was 44.1 mM. L-Galactono-1,4-lactone, L-gulono-1,4-lactone and L-xylono-1,4-lactone could also serve as substrates. Competitive inhibition was demonstrated with D-glucono-1,5-lactone, L-arabinono-1,4-lactone, D-galactono-1,4-lactone and D-gulono-1,4-lactone. p-Chloromercuribenzoate, N-ethylmaleimide, iodoacetic acid, iodoacetamide and divalent metal ions such as Cd2+, Hg2+, Mn2+ and Zn2+ exhibited inhibitory effects on the enzyme.