title: New insight into cofactor-free oxygenation from combined experimental and computational approaches.
abstract: Molecular oxygen (O2), in spite being a potentially strong oxidant, typically displays very poor reactivity with organic molecules. This is largely due to quantum chemical reasons as O2in its ground state is a diradical (3O2) whilst common organic substrates are in a singlet state. For this reason catalysis involving O2as a reactant is typically mediated by enzymes containing redox metal and/or organic co-factors. Cofactor-independent oxygenases (and oxidases) are therefore intriguing enzymes from a fundamental viewpoint. This review looks at recent advances that have been made in understanding of this class of intriguing biocatalysts highlighting the power of an inter-disciplinary approach involving structural biology, spectroscopy and theoretical methods.
authors.affiliation: Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Soi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bui
authors.affiliation: Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: roberto.steiner@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Roberto A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Steiner
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology; D008954:Models, Biological; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D010545:Peroxides / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010545:Peroxides; D010105:Oxygenases; D010100:Oxygen