Molybdenum-containing hydroxylases.

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, 333 Hamilton Hall, 1645 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. hille.l@osu.edu

Unlike monooxygenases, molybdenum-containing hydroxylases catalyze the hydroxylation of carbon centers using oxygen derived ultimately from water, rather than O(2), as the source of the oxygen atom incorporated into the product, and do not require an external source of reducing equivalents. The mechanism by which this interesting chemistry takes place has been the subject of investigation for some time, and in the last several years the chemical course of the reaction has become increasingly well understood. The present minireview summarizes recent mechanistic and structure/function studies of members of this large and growing family of enzymes.

PMID: 15581570 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]