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Updated: Feb 27, 2026

Simultaneous Measurement of Superoxide/Hydrogen Peroxide and NADH Production by Flavin-containing Mitochondrial Dehydrogenases
Published on: February 24, 2018
Conversion of a Dehalogenase into a Nitroreductase by Swapping its Flavin Cofactor with a 5-Deazaflavin Analogue
Qi Su1, Petrina A Boucher1, Steven E Rokita1
1Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA.
Abstract:
Natural and engineered nitroreductases have rarely supported full reduction of nitroaromatics to their amine products, and more typically, transformations are limited to formation of the hydroxylamine intermediates. Efficient use of these enzymes also requires a regenerating system for NAD(P)H to avoid the costs associated with this natural reductant. Iodotyrosine deiodinase is a member of the same structural superfamily as many nitroreductases but does not directly consume reducing equivalents from NAD(P)H, nor demonstrate nitroreductase activity. However, exchange of its flavin cofactor with a 5-deazaflavin analogue dramatically suppresses its native deiodinase activity and leads to significant nitroreductase activity that supports full reduction to an amine product in the presence of the convenient and inexpensive NaBH4 .
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