Production of drug metabolites is one area where enzymatic conversion has significant advantages over synthetic chemistry. These high value products are complex to synthesize, but are increasingly important in drug safety testing. The vast majority of drugs are metabolized by cytochromes P450 (P450s), with oxidative transformations usually being highly regio- and stereo-selective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) have enormous potential in the production of oxychemicals, due to their unparalleled regio- and stereoselectivity. The Bacillus megaterium P450 BM3 enzyme is a key model system, with several mutants (many distant from the active site) reported to alter substrate selectivity. It has the highest reported monooxygenase activity of the P450 enzymes, and this catalytic efficiency has inspired protein engineering to enable its exploitation for biotechnologically relevant oxidations with structurally diverse substrates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacillus megaterium flavocytochrome P450 BM3 (BM3) is a high activity fatty acid hydroxylase, formed by the fusion of soluble cytochrome P450 and cytochrome P450 reductase modules. Short chain (C6, C8) alkynes were shown to be substrates for BM3, with productive outcomes (i.e.
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