Xenobiotic transformations

Sariaslani FS, MK Trower, SE Buchloz (1989) Xenobiotic transformations by Streptomyces griseus. Dev Ind Microbiol 30 161-171. 

It is possible to distinguish between two major types of biotransformation. On the one hand, there are xenobiotic transformations in which the substrate is completely alien to the microorganism whilst, on the other hand, there are biosynthetically-patterned biotransformations in which the substrate bears a formal relationship to an intermediate of one of the natural biosynthetic pathways that the organism possesses. 

However, there are some problems that are inherent in using this approach to biotransformation. Firstly, a xenobiotic transformation often involves just one step, e.g. a hydroxylation, whilst a biosynthetically-directed transformation may use a sequence of enzymatic steps. The artificial substrate may be a poor fit for some of these specific enzymes. Consequently, the overall yields may be rather poor. Secondly, unless the fermentation is modified in some way, the artificial exogenous substrate may be in competition with the natural metabolites, diminishing the yield and posing separation problems. Nevertheless, in several cases biosynthetically-directed biotransformations have been exploited to yield novel biologically-active compounds and useful biosynthetic information. 

A complete system for managing in-house and literature sources of metabolic information. The system includes a database containing key information about xenobiotic transformations of compounds from literature sources a novel access application that indexes path and scheme information and a registration system that allows scientists to... 

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