Substrate Trafficking and Dioxygen Activation in Bacterial Multicomponent Monooxygenases

Non-heme carboxylate-bridged diiron centers in the hydroxylase components of the bacterial multicomponent monooxygenases process four substrates during catalysis: electrons, protons, dioxygen, and hydrocarbons. Understanding how protein-protein interactions mediate the transport of these substrates to the diiron center to achieve the selective oxidation of the hydrocarbon is a significant challenge. In this Account, we summarize our current knowledge of these processes with a focus on the methane monooxygenase system. We also describe recent results for the toluene/ o-xylene monooxygenase and phenol hydroxylase systems from Pseudomonas sporium OX1. The observation in these latter systems of a diiron(III) oxygenated intermediate having different Mössbauer parameters from analogous species in other carboxylate-bridged diiron proteins is discussed. The results indicate that the ability of the protein framework to tune the reactivity of the diiron center at structurally similar active sites is substantially more complex than previously recognized.