Towards a unified mechanism of biological methane oxidation

Abstract The biological oxidation of methane to methanol is catalysed by soluble and particulate forms of the enzyme methane monooxygenase. Little information is available regarding the structure and mechanism of the particulate enzyme whereas much is known about the soluble form of the enzyme. This review concentrates on current knowledge of the structure of the components of the soluble methane monooxygenase and draws together these results with those on the kinetics and substrate specificity of the enzyme in a possible chemical mechanism for enzymatic methane oxidation.