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Matthias Boll, Georg Fuchs
Unusual reactions involved in anaerobic metabolism of phenolic compounds
Keywords: anaerobic aromatic metabolism, benzoyl-CoA reductase, 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA reductase, phenylphosphate carboxylase, phenylphosphate synthase
Aerobic bacteria use molecular oxygen as a common co-substrate for key enzymes of aromatic metabolism. In contrast, in anaerobes all oxygen-dependent reactions are replaced by a set of alternative enzymatic processes. The anaerobic degradation of phenol to a non-aromatic product involves enzymatic processes that are uniquely found in the aromatic metabolism of anaerobic bacteria: (i) ATP-dependent phenol carboxylation to 4-hydroxybenzoate via a phenylphosphate intermediate (biological Kolbe-Schmitt carboxylation); (ii) reductive dehydroxylation of 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA to benzoyl-CoA; and (iii) ATP-dependent reductive dearomatization of the key intermediate benzoyl-CoA in a ‘Birch-like’ reduction mechanism. This review summarizes the results of recent mechanistic studies of the enzymes involved in these three key reactions.
Biological Chemistry, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1431-6730
Volume: 386, 10/2005
Pages: 989 - 997