NEW ENZYMES ACTING ON BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND UNIQUE CATALYSIS

摘要

We have studied various biocatalysts, and have clarified their reaction mechanism and expression mechanism (1-7). Screening is very important to give us a new materials and new phenomena. We have been interested in how bioactive compounds included in foods and plants are metabolized in nature, and therefore, we recently started screening of enzymes that act on these compounds. We have looked for microorganisms degrading each of them and have investigated enzymes involved in the degradation of the target compound. Here, I show you a few examples; particularly, natural compounds containing a methylenedioxyphenyl group, the structure of which includes a unique ring.