Discovery of a novel styrene monooxygenase originating from the metagenome.

ABSTRACT: Oxygenases form an interesting class of biocatalysts, as they typically perform oxygenations with exquisite chemo-, regio-, and/or enantioselectivity. It has been observed that, once heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, some oxygenases are able to form the blue pigment indigo. We have exploited this characteristic to screen a metagenomic library derived from loam soil and identified a novel oxygenase. This oxygenase shows 50% sequence identity with styrene monooxygenases from pseudomonads (StyA). Only a limited number of homologs can be found in the genome sequence database, indicating that this biocatalyst is a member of a relatively small family of bacterial monooxygenases. The newly identified monooxygenase catalyzes the epoxidation of styrene and styrene derivatives and forms

SUBMITTER: van Hellemond EW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2074922 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature