Oxalate oxidoreductase explained

Oxalate oxidoreductase
Ec Number:	1.2.7.10

Oxalate oxidoreductases (OOR) are a relatively recently discovered group of enzymes that break down oxalate, a problematic molecule nutritionally. The first one to have been characterized has the systematic name oxalate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase.^{[1] [2]} This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction:

oxalate + oxidized ferredoxin

\rightleftharpoons 2 CO₂ + reduced ferredoxin

This enzyme contains thiamine diphosphate and [4Fe-4S] clusters.

Another OOR from acetogenic bacteria, a thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP)-dependent OOR, had its mechanism of action decoded step by step under X-ray crystallography to rather simplistically (one-carbon) split oxalate, producing low-potential electrons and CO₂.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Daniel SL, Pilsl C, Drake HL . Oxalate metabolism by the acetogenic bacterium Moorella thermoacetica . FEMS Microbiology Letters . 231 . 1 . 39–43 . February 2004 . 14769464 . 10.1016/S0378-1097(03)00924-8 . free .
2. Pierce E, Becker DF, Ragsdale SW . Identification and characterization of oxalate oxidoreductase, a novel thiamine pyrophosphate-dependent 2-oxoacid oxidoreductase that enables anaerobic growth on oxalate . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 285 . 52 . 40515–24 . December 2010 . 20956531 . 3003350 . 10.1074/jbc.M110.155739 . free .
3. Gibson MI, Chen PY, Johnson AC, Pierce E, Can M, Ragsdale SW, Drennan CL . One-carbon chemistry of oxalate oxidoreductase captured by X-ray crystallography . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 113 . 2 . 320–5 . January 2016 . 26712008 . 4720323 . 10.1073/pnas.1518537113 . 2016PNAS..113..320G . free .