Phenol metabolism monooxygenation

Whereas the metabolism of aromatic hydrocarbons takes place by dioxygenation, their biotransformation by yeasts and fungi is normally initiated by monooxygenation to the epoxide followed by hydrolysis to the trani-dihydrodiols. Phenols may subsequently be formed either by elimination or by nonenzymatic rearrangement of the epoxide ... 

The transformation of a few polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has also been investigated in yeasts. The metabolism of naphthalene, biphenyl, and benzo [a] pyrene has been examined in a strain of Debaryomyces hansenii and in number of strains of Candida sp. The results using C. lipolytica showed that the transformations were similar to those carried out by fungi the primary reaction was formation of the epoxides that were then rearranged to phenols (Cerniglia and Crow 1981). Benzo[a]pyrene is transformed by Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the 3- and 9-hydroxy compounds and the 9,10-dihydrodiol, and the cytochrome P-448 that mediates the monooxygenation has been purified and characterized (King et al. 1984). 

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