Kurt A.G.Aytan E.Ozer U.Ates B.Geckil H.2024-08-042024-08-0420091860-6768https://doi.org/10.1002/biot.200900130https://hdl.handle.net/11616/91823Given the well-established beneficial effects of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) on heterologous organisms, the potential of this protein for the production of L-DOPA and dopamine in two bacteria, Citrobacter freundii and Erwinia herbicola, was investigated. The constructed recombinants bearing the VHb gene (vgb+) had substantially higher levels of cytoplasmic L-DOPA (112 mg/L for C. freundii and 97 mg/L for E. herbicola) than their respective hosts (30.4 and 33.8 mg/L) and the vgb- control strains (35.6 and 35.8 mg/L). Further, the vgb+ recombinants of C. freundii and E. herbicola had 20-fold and about two orders of magnitude higher dopamine levels than their hosts, repectively. The activity of tyrosine phenol-lyase, the enzyme converting L-tyrosine to L-DOPA, was well-correlated to cytoplasmic L-DOPA levels. As cultures aged, higher tyrosine phenol-lyase activity of the vgb+ strains was more apparent. © 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessDopamineErwinia herbicolaL-DOPATyrosine phenol-lyaseVitreoscilla hemoglobinArticle47107710881958553410.1002/biot.2009001302-s2.0-70350241260Q1