Alix C. Harlington

Sep 13, 2024 | chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Tuhin Das |Eva F. Hayball |Alix C. Harlington |Biomedical Science

Introduction Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) are a group of heme-thiolate enzymes that catalyse the regio- and stereo-selective oxidation of carbon-hydrogen (C−H) bonds in organic compounds.1 The enzymes participate in a wide range of chemical reactions including; decarboxylation, epoxidation, desaturation, dealkylation, and sulfoxidation.2 They are therefore of significant interest as biocatalysts to simplify synthetic routes involving selective late-stage functionalisation of complex...

Jul 14, 2024 | biorxiv.org | Alix C. Harlington |Tuhin Das |Keith E. Shearwin |Stephen Bell

AbstractThe O-demethylation of lignin aromatics is a rate-limiting step in their bioconversion to high-value compounds. A recently discovered cytochrome P450 enzyme SyoA was found to demethylate the sinapyl alcohol-derived (S-lignin) aromatic syringol. In this work, we solved high-resolution X-ray crystal structures of SyoA in the substrate-free and substrate-bound states and evaluate the demethylation of para-substituted S-lignin aromatics via the monooxygenase pathway and peroxide shunt pathway.