Methanol dehydrogenase
In enzymology, a methanol dehydrogenase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction:
How the electrons are captured and transported depends upon the kind of methanol dehydrogenase and there are two main types. A common electron acceptor in biological systems is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and some enzymes use a related molecule called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate. An NAD+-dependent methanol dehydrogenase was first reported in a Gram-positive methylotroph and is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are methanol and NAD+, whereas its 3 products are formaldehyde, NADH, and H+.
This enzyme belongs to the family of oxidoreductases, specifically those acting on the CH-OH group of donor with NAD+ or NADP+ as acceptor. The systematic name of this enzyme class is methanol:NAD+ oxidoreductase. This enzyme participates in methane metabolism.
Prior to the discovery of this enzyme, methanol oxidation in Gram-negative bacteria had been shown to be by way of an independent alcohol dehydrogenase found originally in Pseudomonas M27. This enzyme contains a prosthetic group called Pyrrolo Quinoline Quinone that accepts the electrons generated from methanol oxidation and passes these electrons to cytochrome c.
