A possible metabolic role for o-diphenoloxidase in Mycobacterium leprae

Among mycobacteria, Mycobacterium leprae is unique in its ability to oxidize a variety of diphenols to quinones in vitro. What physiologic role o-diphenoloxidase has in the organism remained unknown. Reducing substrates like NADPH, NADH and ascorbic acid reacted with the quinone formed from dopa (3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine); the substrates were oxidized and the quinone was reduced back to diphenol in the process. Since the quinone undergoes reversible oxidation-reduction, diphenoloxidase might serve as an alternative respiratory mechanism in M. leprae for the utilization of other substrates, as has been reported in plants.