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Flavin-dependent monooxygenases play a variety of key physiological roles and are also very powerful biotechnological tools. These enzymes have been classified into eight different classes (A–H) based on their sequences and biochemical features. By combining structural and sequence analysis, and phylogenetic inference, we have explored the evolutionary history of classes A, B, E, F, and G and demonstrate that their multidomain architectures reflect their phylogenetic relationships, suggesting that the main evolutionary steps in their divergence are likely to have arisen from the recruitment of different domains. Additionally, the functional divergence within in each class appears to have been the result of other mechanisms such as a complex set of single-point mutations. Our results reinforce the idea that a main constraint on the evolution of cofactor-dependent enzymes is the functional binding of the cofactor. Additionally, a remarkable feature of this family is that the sequence of the key flavin adenine dinucleotide-binding domain is split into at least two parts in all classes studied here. We propose a complex set of evolutionary events that gave rise to the origin of the different classes within this family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baeyer—Villiger Monooxygenases (BVMOs) are enzymes belonging to the “Class B” of flavin monooxygenases and are capable of performing exquisite selective oxidations. These enzymes have been studied from a biotechnological perspective, but their physiological substrates and functional roles are widely unknown. Here, we investigated the origin, taxonomic distribution and evolutionary history of the BVMO genes. By using in silico approaches, 98 BVMO encoding genes were detected in the three domains of life: Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya. We found evidence for the presence of these genes in Metazoa (Hydra vulgaris, Oikopleura dioica and Adineta vaga) and Haptophyta (Emiliania huxleyi) for the first time. Furthermore, a search for other “Class B” monooxygenases (flavoprotein monooxygenases –FMOs – and N-hydroxylating monooxygenases – NMOs) was conducted. These sequences were also found in the three domains of life. Phylogenetic analyses of all “Class B” monooxygenases revealed that NMOs and BVMOs are monophyletic, whereas FMOs form a paraphyletic group. Based on these results, we propose that BVMO genes were already present in the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) and their current taxonomic distribution is the result of differential duplication and loss of paralogous genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]