Bioconversion of aromatic compounds by Escherichia coli that expresses cytochrome P450 CYP153A13a gene isolated from an alkane-assimilating marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis

The cytochrome P450 CYP153 family has been isolated from alkane-assimilating bacteria. CYP153 has been shown to mediate terminal hydroxylations of linear alkanes or alkyl aromatics. We here performed the biotransformation of various aromatic compounds by Escherichia coli cells that expressed the CYP153A13a (P450balk) gene, which was isolated from an alkane-degading marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis. Aromatic compounds including a short alkyl moiety or methyl ether moiety, and phenolic compounds were converted to their respective hydroxylated products, whose structures were determined by HRMS and NMR analyses. The present study revealed that the catalytic function of CYP153A13a is multifunctional, i.e., it can hydroxylate not only the terminal of short alkyl groups that attached to aromatic rings but also the p-position of phenolic compounds substituted with a halogen or the acetyl group. CYP153A13a was also shown to demethylate methylether-including aromatic compounds.