The diversity of the lipoxygenase family - Many sequence data but little information on biological significance

Lipoxygenases form a family of lipid peroxidising enzymes, which oxygenate free and esterified polyenoic fatty acids to the corresponding hydroperoxy derivatives, They are widely distributed in both the plant and animal kingd oms, During the last couple of years more and more lipoxygenase isoforms ha ve been discovered but for most of them the biological significance remains unclear. This review attempts to classify the currently known mammalian li poxygenase isoforms and critically reviews the concepts for their biologica l importance, (C) 1999 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.