New biochemical compound breaks down environmental pollutants

The newly-discovered flavin N5-peroxide has different reactive characteristics than the flavin C4a-peroxide. Some bacteria use this to break down stable chemical compounds, including environmental pollutants such as dibenzothiophene, a component of crude oil, or hexachlorobenzene, a plant protection agent. Using X-ray structural analysis and mechanistic studies the scientists were able to clarify how the formation of this flavin N5-peroxide is controlled at an enzymatic level.

In future Teufel and his team want to study how widespread this novel flavin biochemistry is in nature. They also want to improve understanding of the role, reactivity and functionality of the flavin N5-peroxide. With their work they are enabling further studies that will in future allow the prediction of flavin enzyme functionality or modification using biotechnology.

Robin Teufel and his work group are studying enzymatic reactions of the bacterial metabolism at the Institute of Biology II of the University of Freiburg.

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Journal Reference:

1. Arne Matthews, Raspudin Saleem-Batcha, Jacob N. Sanders, Frederick Stull, K. N. Houk, Robin Teufel. Aminoperoxide adducts expand the catalytic repertoire of flavin monooxygenases. Nature Chemical Biology, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41589-020-0476-2