Unser 10. Leibniz Plant Biochemistry Symposium am 7. und 8. Mai war ein großer Erfolg. Thematisch ging es in diesem Jahr um neue Methoden und Forschungsansätze der Naturstoffchemie. Die exzellenten Vorträge über Wirkstoffe…
Omanische Heilpflanze im Fokus der Phytochemie IPB-Wissenschaftler und Partner aus Dhofar haben jüngst die omanische Heilpflanze Terminalia dhofarica unter die phytochemische Lupe genommen. Die Pflanze ist reich an…
Geschmack ist vorhersagbar: Mit FlavorMiner. FlavorMiner heißt das Tool, das IPB-Chemiker und Partner aus Kolumbien jüngst entwickelt haben. Das Programm kann, basierend auf maschinellem Lernen (KI), anhand der…
Natalio, F.; Wiese, S.; Brandt, W.; Wessjohann, L.;Reconstitution of Vanadium Haloperoxidase's Catalytic Activity by Boric Acid-Towards a Potential Biocatalytic Role of BoronChem.-Eur. J.234973-4980(2017)DOI: 10.1002/chem.201605230
Boron's unusual properties inspired major advances in chemistry. In nature, the existence and importance of boron has been fairly explored (e.g. bacterial signaling, plant development) but its role as biological catalyst was never reported. Here, we show that boric acid [B(OH)3] can restore chloroperoxidase activity of Curvularia inaequalis recombinant apo‐haloperoxidase's (HPO) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and chloride ions. Molecular modeling and semi‐empirical PM7 calculations support a thermodynamically highly favored (bio)catalytic mechanism similarly to vanadium haloperoxidases (V‐HPO) in which [B(OH)3] is assumedly located in apo‐HPO's active site and a monoperoxyborate [B(OH)3(OOH)−] intermediate is formed and stabilized by interaction with specific active site amino acids leading ultimately to the formation of HOCl. Thus, B(OH)3−HPO provides the first evidence towards the future exploitation of boron′s role in biological systems.