Cofactor iron-sulfur

Iron-sulfur centers are second in the list of most-diverse inorganic cofactors. Iron-sulfur centers are used in electron transfer and to carry out chemical modifications. They can also be employed as structural elements that help stabilize protein structure. The four simplest structures of these... 

A substantial fraction of the named enzymes are oxido-reductases, responsible for shuttling electrons along metabolic pathways that reduce carbon dioxide to sugar (in the case of plants), or reduce oxygen to water (in the case of mammals). The oxido-reductases that drive these processes involve a small set of redox active cofactors , that is, small chemical groups that gain or lose electrons. These cofactors include iron porjDhyrins, iron-sulfur clusters and copper complexes as well as organic species that are ET active. 

These enzymes may contain other redox-active sites (iron-sulfur centers, hemes, and/or flavins), either in distinct domains of a single polypeptide or bound in separate subunits. These additional cofactors perform electron transfer from the molybdenum center to an external electron acceptor/donor. 

A relationship between the redox state of an iron—sulfur center and the conformation of the host protein was furthermore established in an X-ray crystal study on center P in Azotobacter vinelandii nitroge-nase (270). In this enzyme, the two-electron oxidation of center P was found to be accompanied by a significant displacement of about 1 A of two iron atoms. In both cases, this displacement was associated with an additional ligation provided by a serine residue and the amide nitrogen of a cysteine residue, respectively. Since these two residues are protonable, it has been suggested that this structural change might help to synchronize the transfer of electrons and protons to the Fe-Mo cofactor of the enzyme (270). 

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the enzyme nitrogenase being composed of the molybdenum-iron (MoFe) protein, an oc2p2 tetramer with two unique iron-sulfur clusters (P-cluster) and two iron-molybdenum cofactors (FeMoco), and the iron protein with one [4Fe-4S]-cluster and two ATP binding sites.

Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) is a molybdenum-containing complex homodimeric 300-kDa cytosolic enzyme. Each subunit contains a molybdopterin cofactor, two nonidentical iron-sulfur centers, and FAD (89). The enzyme has an important physiologic role in the oxidative metabolism of purines, e.g., it catalyzes the sequence of reactions that convert hypoxanthine to xanthine then to uric acid (Fig. 4.36). 

NADH-coenzyme Q (CoQ) oxidoreductase, transfers electrons stepwise from NADH, through a flavoprotein (containing FMN as cofactor) to a series of iron-sulfur clusters (which will be discussed in Chapter 13) and ultimately to CoQ, a lipid-soluble quinone, which transfers its electrons to Complex III. A If, for the couple NADH/CoQ is 0.36 V, corresponding to a AG° of —69.5 kJ/mol and in the process of electron transfer, protons are exported into the intermembrane space (between the mitochondrial inner and outer membranes). 

Complex III (CoQ cytochrome c oxidoreductase) transfers electrons from CoQ to cytochrome c, through a sequence of cytochrome and iron-sulfur cofactors. Here, Alf for the couple CoQ/cytochrome c is 0.19 V, corresponding to a AG° of —36.7 kJ/mol, again enough to power the synthesis of an ATP molecule and to ensure that protons are pumped across the inner mitochondrial membrane. 

It is recalled that in Chapter 9, Section 2, the electrochemical behaviour of the FeMo cofactor from FeMo-nitrogenase, was reported. It possesses a heteronuclear iron-molybdenum-sulfur (MoFe7S9) cluster, which has similarities with the above discussed iron-sulfur proteins. 

Iron (Fe) is quantitatively the most important trace element (see p. 362). The human body contains 4-5 g iron, which is almost exclusively present in protein-bound form. Approximately three-quarters of the total amount is found in heme proteins (see pp. 106,192), mainly hemoglobin and myoglobin. About 1% of the iron is bound in iron-sulfur clusters (see p. 106), which function as cofactors in the respiratory chain, in photosynthesis, and in other redox chains. The remainder consists of iron in transport and storage proteins (transferrin, ferritin see B). 

NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) [EC 1.6.5.3] (also called ubiquinone reductase, type I dehydrogenase, and complex I dehydrogenase) catalyzes the reaction of NADH with ubiquinone to produce NAD and ubiqui-nol. The complex, which uses EAD and iron-sulfur proteins as cofactors, is found in mitochondrial membranes and can be degraded to form NADH dehydrogenase [EC... 

I. 6.99.3]. NADH dehydrogenase [EC 1.6.99.3] catalyzes the reaction of NADH with an acceptor to produce NAD+ and the reduced acceptor. Iron-sulfur and flavo-proteins are still being used as cofactors with this component of EC 1.6.5.3. Interestingly, after certain preparations have been followed, cytochrome c may serve as the acceptor substrate. 

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