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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

A Toolkit to Enable Hydrocarbon Conversion in Aqueous Environments
Published on: October 2, 2012
Direct involvement of hydrogen peroxide in bacterial alpha-hydroxylation of fatty acid
I Matsunaga1, M Yamada, E Kusunose
1Section of Molecular Regulation, Toneyama Institute for Tuberculosis Research, Osaka City University Medical School, Japan.
Abstract:
We have reported that fatty-acid alpha-hydroxylase partially purified from Sphingomonas paucimobilis required NADH and molecular oxygen. In this study, we found that the reaction was greatly inhibited by catalase. Glutathione and glutathione peroxidase also inhibited alpha-hydroxylation, but superoxide dismutase and mannitol did not. Replacement of NADH and molecular oxygen by hydrogen peroxide increased the alpha-hydroxylation activity. In the presence of hydrogen peroxide, molecular oxygen was not required for the activity. These findings suggest that hydrogen peroxide was essential for bacterial alpha-hydroxylase.
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