The enzyme cleaves chitin in an oxidative manner, releasing fragments of chitin with an N-acetylamino-D-glucono-1,5-lactone at the reducing end. The initially formed lactone at the reducing end of the shortened chitin chain quickly hydrolyses spontaneously to the aldonic acid. In vitro ascorbate can serve as reducing agent. The enzyme contains copper at the active site.
Gudmundsson M, Kim S, Wu M, Ishida T, Momeni MH, Vaaje-Kolstad G, Lundberg D, Royant A, Stahlberg J, Eijsink VG, Beckham GT, Sandgren M
Title
Structural and electronic snapshots during the transition from a Cu(II) to Cu(I) metal center of a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase by X-ray photoreduction.