Most oxygenases contain either a metal, usually iron, or an organic cofactor, usuallyflavin. These cofactors interact with O2, leading to its transfer to substrate.[1]
Oxygenases were discovered in 1955 simultaneously by two groups,Osamu Hayaishi from Japan[4][5][6] and Howard S. Mason from the US.[7][8] Hayaishi was awarded the 1986Wolf Prize in Medicine "for the discovery of the oxygenase enzymes and elucidation of their structure and biological importance."[9]
^SW, Ryter; J, Alam (April 2006). "Heme oxygenase-1/carbon monoxide: from basic science to therapeutic applications".Physiol Rev.86 (2). Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine:583–650.doi:10.1152/physrev.00011.2005.PMID16601269.
^Bugg TDH (2003). "Dioxygenase enzymes: catalytic mechanisms and chemical models".Tetrahedron.59 (36):7075–7101.doi:10.1016/S0040-4020(03)00944-X.
^Hayaishi et al. (1955) Mechanism of the pyrocatechase reaction, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 77 (1955) 5450-5451
^Sligar SG, Makris TM, Denisov IG (2005). "Thirty years of microbial P450 monooxygenase research: peroxo-heme intermediates--the central bus station in heme oxygenase catalysis".Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.338 (1):346–54.doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.08.094.PMID16139790.
^Mason HS, Fowlks WK, Peterson E (1955). "Oxygen transfer and electron transport by the phenolase complex".J. Am. Chem. Soc.77 (10):2914–2915.doi:10.1021/ja01615a088.
