monooxygenase

(noun)

Any oxygenase enzyme that catalyzes the incorporation of a single atom of molecular oxygen into a substrate, the other atom being reduced to water; active in the metabolism of many foreign compounds.

Related Terms

Examples of monooxygenase in the following topics:

  • Methylotrophy and Methanotrophy

    • Methanotrophs oxidize methane by first initiating reduction of oxygen (O2) to water (H2O) and oxidation of methane (CH4) to a more active species, methanol (CH3OH), using oxidoreductase enzymes called methane monooxygenases (MMOs).
    • soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO), which is found in the cell cytoplasm.
    • particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), which is found in the cell membrane.

  • Psychrophilic Crenarchaeota

    • All contain the functional gene ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) which, as its name implies, is responsible for the oxidation of ammonia.

  • Nitrification

    • Biochemically, ammonium oxidation occurs by the stepwise oxidation of ammonium to hydroxylamine (NH2OH) by the enzyme ammonium monooxygenase in the cytoplasm, followed by the oxidation of hydroxylamine to nitrite by the enzyme hydroxylamine oxidoreductase in the periplasm.