Fatty Acid Hydroxylations Using P450 Monooxygenases

Cytochrome P450 enzymes belong to the class of monooxygenases (E.C. 1.14.x.y). They are widely distributed in nature (Ortiz de Montellano, 1995; Lewis, 1996) and play a key role in various steps of primary and secondary metabolism as well as in detoxification of xenobiotic compounds (Stegeman and Lech, 1991; Goldstein and Faletto, 1993; Bolwell et al., 1994). Structural similarities of P450 enzymes reside in a heme system in the catalytic center which contains – in contrast to other enzymes – a fifth cysteine ligand co-ordinated to the iron atom. This feature is responsible for the characteristic spectral properties of P450 enzymes: the maximum absorption at 450 nm in the differential spectra of carbon monoxide, which gave P450 systems their name (Omura and Sato, 1964).