Controlling the activities of the diiron centre in bacterial monooxygenases: Lessons from mutagenesis and biodiversity

The soluble diiron monooxygenases (SDIMOs) are a diverse group of enzymes that use a diiron active centre to add oxygen to a wide range of organic molecules. Here we review how natural biodiversity and laboratory mutagenesis studies have revealed how the protein scaffold of SDIMOs controls the activity of the enzymes and the presentation of substrates to the diiron site.