Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases, an emerging family of flavin-dependent biocatalysts

Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) are flavoenzymes that catalyze a remarkably wide variety of oxidative reactions such as regio- and enantioselective Baeyer-Villiger oxidations and sulfoxidations. Several of these conversions are difficult to achieve using chemical approaches. Due to their selectivity and catalytic efficiency, BVMOs are highly valuable biocatalysts for the synthesis of a broad range of fine chemicals. For a long time, only one member of this class of flavin-containing biocatalysts had been cloned and overexpressed which has limited their application for synthetic processes. Recently a number of new genes that encode BVMOs have been sequenced and overexpressed. In this paper the biocatalytic properties of recently cloned BVMOs are reviewed. Furthermore, the potential for obtaining novel BVMOs from sequenced genomes will be discussed.