Stereochemical Investigations Meveal the Mechanism of the Bacterial Activation of w-Alkanes without Oxygen

摘要

Certain heterotrophic bacteria conserve energy by coupling the complete oxidation of n-alkanes to carbon dioxide with the reduction of different electron acceptors. Aerobic n-alkane-utilizing bacteria, which were first recognized at the beginning of the last century, use dioxygen not only as the terminal electron acceptor, but also as the co-substrate for enzymatic reactions that transform these inert substrates to oxygen-containing metabolites suitable for further degradation.