The enzyme isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae has a broad substrate range for aliphatic 2-keto acids including 2-ketobutyrate , 2-ketovalerate, and 2-phenylpyruvate (Li and Jordan, Biochemistry 38:10004-10012 (1999) ).
Benzoylformate decarboxylase has a broad substrate range and has been the target of enzyme engineering studies.