Snapshots of the past:studies on extant and extinct flavin-containing monooxygenases

The work presented in this thesis deepens our general knowledge about flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs). First, with the characterization of a newly discovered thermostable bacterial FMO a new biocatalytic tool has been added to the toolbox of available FPMOs. Then with the unprecedented elucidation of mammalian FMO structures (Chapter 3 and 4), new insights on the functioning of these detoxifying enzymes has been obtained. The elucidated structures, together with the generated biochemical data, provide pivotal input for future pharmacology studies. Ultimately, by reconstructing a set of carefully selected ancestral FMOs, glimpses of steps in evolution of tetrapod FMOs were obtained for the first time, revealing determinants behind the FMO-BVMO switch