Inbiochemistry, an oxidase is an oxidoreductase (any enzyme that catalyzesaredox reaction) that uses dioxygen (O2) as the electron acceptor. In reactions involving donation of a hydrogen atom, oxygen is reduced to water (H2O) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Some oxidation reactions, such as those involving monoamine oxidaseorxanthine oxidase, typically do not involve free molecular oxygen.[1][2]
The oxidases are a subclass of the oxidoreductases. The use of dioxygen is the only unifying feature; in the EC classification, these enzymes are scattered in many categories.
An important example is EC 7.1.1.9 cytochrome c oxidase, the key enzyme that allows the body to employ oxygen in the generation of energy and the final component of the electron transfer chain. Other examples are:
Inmicrobiology, the oxidase test is used as a phenotypic characteristic for the identification of bacterial strains; it determines whether a given bacterium produces cytochrome oxidases (and therefore utilizes oxygen with an electron transfer chain).
The test is used to determine whether a bacterium is an aerobeoranaerobe. However a bacterium that is Oxidase negative is not necessarily anaerobic, instead showing the bacterium does not possess cytochrome c oxidase.
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