The HOBr is a potent brominating agent. The many organobromine compounds observed in marine environments are the products of reaction with this oxidized form of bromine.
Bromo peroxidases of red and brown marine algae (Rhodophyta and Phaeophyta) contain
vanadate (
vanadium bromoperoxidase). Otherwise vanadium is unusual cofactor in biology.[4] By virtue of this family of enzymes, a variety of brominated natural products have been isolated from marine sources.
Related
chloroperoxidase enzymes effect chlorination. In the nomenclature of
haloperoxidase, bromoperoxidases classically are unable to oxidize chloride at all. For example,
eosinophil peroxidase appears to prefer bromide over chloride, yet is not considered a bromoperoxidase because it is able to use chloride.
Muricidae (was Murex) spp. snails have a bromoperoxidase used to produce
Tyrian purple dye. The enzyme is very specific to bromide and physically stable, but has not been characterized as to its active site metal. As of 2019[update], no specific gene has been assigned to such an enzyme in the snail genome.[5] Such an activity is probably provided by symbiotic Bacillus bacteria instead.[6] The identified enzyme belongs to the
alpha/beta hydrolase superfamily; a structure for a similar bromoperoxidase is available as PDB:
3FOB. It runs on a
catalytic triad of Ser 99, Asp 229 and His 258 and does not require metal cofactors.[7]
Additional reading
De Boer, E.; Tromp, M.G.M.; Plat, H.; Krenn, G.E.; Wever, R (1986). "Vanadium(v) as an essential element for haloperoxidase activity in marine brown-algae - purification and characterization of a vanadium(V)-containing bromoperoxidase from Laminaria saccharina". Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 872 (1–2): 104–115.
doi:
10.1016/0167-4838(86)90153-6.
Tromp MG, Olafsson G, Krenn BE, Wever R (September 1990). "Some structural aspects of vanadium bromoperoxidase from Ascophyllum nodosum". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Protein Structure and Molecular Enzymology. 1040 (2): 192–8.
doi:
10.1016/0167-4838(90)90075-q.
PMID2400770.
Isupov MN, Dalby AR, Brindley AA, Izumi Y, Tanabe T, Murshudov GN, Littlechild JA (June 2000). "Crystal structure of dodecameric vanadium-dependent bromoperoxidase from the red algae Corallina officinalis". Journal of Molecular Biology. 299 (4): 1035–49.
doi:
10.1006/jmbi.2000.3806.
PMID10843856.
Carter-Franklin JN, Butler A (November 2004). "Vanadium bromoperoxidase-catalyzed biosynthesis of halogenated marine natural products". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 126 (46): 15060–6.
doi:
10.1021/ja047925p.
PMID15548002.