Fungal laccases

Laccases are enzymes widely distributed in plants, fungi, bacteria, and insects. They are multicopper oxidases that catalyze the transformation of aromatic and non-aromatic compounds with reduction of molecular oxygen to water. These enzymes participate in processes such as biosynthesis and lignin degradation, morphogenesis, and pigment biosynthesis, among others. In this review we discuss relevant aspects of fungal laccases regarding the existence of fungal laccases gene families, the growing interest in investigating mechanisms of their molecular regulation, and factors that influence the production of laccases, due to their potential biotechnological applications. In addition we comparatively analyzed some structural similarities and differences depicting general features of laccases' active site, demonstrating their frequency as monomeric proteins with highly conserved cupredoxine type domains. Although inter- and intra-specific differences have been determined, structural differences encountered between fungal laccases remain unclear based on Crystallography and X-ray diffraction. (C) 2013 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.