This week in Bio Inorganic, we were assigned to write on a metalloenzyme that we were assigned to research a week or two ago. The enzyme that I was assigned was methane monooxygenase (I'm going to call it MM). This enzyme catalyzes the formation of methanol, which is the first key state in the oxidative metabolism of methane. In more simple terms, MM helps turn CH4 into CH3OH. This enzyme is also capable of oxidizing the C-H bond of other alkanes. MM is found in methanotrophic bacteria, which metabolize methane as their only source of carbon and energy. These bacteria play a key role in cycling carbon in anaerobic systems. There are two types of MM: soluble, which contains an iron center bridged by an oxygen (Fe-O-Fe), and particulate, which utilized copper as its center. The particulate MM is poorly understood, and there is much more research to be done on this type. Each Fe in MM has a six coordinate octahedral environment. The oxidation state of the iron is III or II depending on which part of the reaction it is in. The spin state goes from 5/2 to 2, which is also dependent on the step of the reaction. The ligands are mostly O based with one N based ligand on each of the Fe. The resting, oxidized, and reduced structures of MM can be seen by following the first link. If you follow the second link, you can view the catalytic cycle and mechanism of MM.
-The High School Chemist
Sources
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MMOstates.JPG
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MMOcycle.JPG
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_monooxygenase
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I thought your blog was educative and actually connects with what we are doing in Environmental chemistry right now. Methane is a very bad green house gas and it is released from wetlands, rice paddies, cattle flatulence, etc and these methanotrophic bacteria equipped with MM are a very important sink for methane in the environment and reduce its levels. Overall, I liked your blog and very informative material :)
ReplyDeleteI found your blog to be very informative and you did a good job of describing how MM plays a important role in the biological system. I found it interesting that the methanotrophic bacteria that are equipped with MM play an important part for methane in the environment and reduce its level.
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