生物分子机器——甲烷单加氧酶的研究进展

Advances in biomolecular machine: methane monooxygenases

摘要:

甲烷氧化菌中的甲烷单加氧酶能够在生理条件下选择性地以甲烷和氧气为底物生成甲醇，麻省理工学院的Lippard教授称它为“神奇的生物分子机器”。本文重点对生物分子机器甲烷单加氧酶的结构、编码基因及调控机制、催化反应机理等进行了综述，此外也简要介绍了甲烷单加氧酶的产生菌甲烷氧化菌的研究历史及分类。生物分子机器甲烷单加氧酶可催化甲烷氧化成甲醇，不仅为甲醇的生产提供了一种新颖的生产方法，而且对生物分子机器的设计也有借鉴意义。

Abstract:

Methane monooxygenases (MMO), regarded as “an amazing biomolecular machine”, catalyze the oxidation of methane to methanol under aerobic conditions. MMO catalyze the oxidation of methane elaborately, which is a novel way to catalyze methane to methanol. Furthermore, MMO can inspire the biomolecular machine design. In this review, we introduced MMO including structure, gene and catalytic mechanism. The history and the taxonomy of MMO were also introduced.