Dagley S
Naturwissenschaften. 1978 Feb;65(2):85-95. doi: 10.1007/BF00440546.
The establishment of a carbon cycle was a necessary prerequisite for the evolution of higher forms of life. This could not have been achieved without the direct participation of oxygen gas in certain metabolic reactions. The controlled activation of oxygen is catalyzed by microbial oxygenases; in principle, activated oxygen is hazardous to all living forms but without it, the degradative segment of the carbon cycle could not operate. The degradation of aromatic compounds is not an esoteric activity of a few specialized microorganisms. It occurs continuously, accompanied by fixation and cycling of oxygen on a massive scale; but like other global biochemical processes it tends to be neglected in general biological curricula. However, knowledge of the scope and limitations of microbial catabolic enzymes is central to the development of rational approaches to many of society's environmental concerns.
碳循环的建立是高等生命形式进化的必要前提。如果没有氧气直接参与某些代谢反应，这是不可能实现的。氧气的受控活化由微生物加氧酶催化；原则上，活化氧对所有生命形式都有危害，但没有它，碳循环的降解部分就无法运行。芳香族化合物的降解并非少数特殊微生物的神秘活动。它持续发生，伴随着氧气的大规模固定和循环；但与其他全球生物化学过程一样，它在一般生物学课程中往往被忽视。然而，了解微生物分解代谢酶的范围和局限性是制定解决社会许多环境问题的合理方法的核心。
