Bacterial haloperoxidases and their role in secondary metabolism.

Bacteria produce a large number of different halogenated secondary metabolites. Haloperoxidases are believed to be the enzymes responsible for the halogenation reaction. Two classes of haloperoxidases, heme and nonheme, were isolated from different bacteria and their role in the biosynthesis of halogenated secondary metabolites was investigated. Two genes of bacterial haloperoxidases were cloned and can now be used to produce large quantities of the enzymes.