Biocatalytic One-Carbon Transfer – A Review

Abstract This review provides an overview of different C1 building blocks as substrates of enzymes, or part of their cofactors, and the resulting­ functionalized products. There is an emphasis on the broad range of possibilities of biocatalytic one-carbon extensions with C1 sources of different oxidation states. The identification of uncommon biosynthetic strategies, many of which might serve as templates for synthetic or biotechnological applications, towards one-carbon extensions is supported by recent genomic and metabolomic progress and hence we refer principally to literature spanning from 2014 to 2020. 1 Introduction 2 Methane, Methanol, and Methylamine 3 Glycine 4 Nitromethane 5 SAM and SAM Ylide 6 Other C1 Building Blocks 7 Formaldehyde and Glyoxylate as Formaldehyde Equivalents 8 Cyanide 9 Formic Acid 10 Formyl-CoA and Oxalyl-CoA 11 Carbon Monoxide 12 Carbon Dioxide 13 Conclusions