The present disclosure provides a method of preparing an
organosilicon compound having at least one
silicon-bonded
methanol group and / or at least one
silanol group from a
cytochrome P450 variant that promotes oxidation of a
silicon-bonded
hydrocarbon group in the presence of an
oxidizing agent. The method comprises combining the
cytochrome P450 variant, an initial
organosilicon compound having at least one
silicon-bonded hydrocarbyl group, and a
cofactor to obtain a reaction mixture, and exposing the reaction mixture to an
oxidizing agent to oxidize the silicon-bonded hydrocarbyl group of the initial
organosilicon compound, thereby producing the organosilicon compound having at least one silicon-bonded
methanol group and / or at least one
silanol group. Also disclosed are
cytochrome P450 variants suitable for use in the methods, as well as methods for
engineering and optimizing the cytochrome P450 variants. Nucleic acids encoding the cytochrome P450 variants as well as compositions, expression vectors and host cells comprising the nucleic acids are also disclosed.