Molybdenum FeMoco 208

As well as donating electrons to the MoFe protein, the Fe protein has at least two and possibly three other functions (see Section IV,C) It is involved in the biosynthesis of the iron molybdenum cofactor, FeMoco it is required for insertion of the FeMoco into the MoFe protein polypeptides and it has been implicated in the regulation of the biosynthesis of the alternative nitrogenases. 

FeMoco can be extracted from the MoFe protein into A(-methylfor-mamide (NMF) solution 32) and has been analyzed extensively using a wide range of spectroscopic techniques both bound to the protein and in solution after extraction from it (33). The extracted FeMoco can be combined with the MoFe protein polypeptides, isolated from strains unable to synthesize the cofactor, to generate active protein. The structure of the FeMoco is now agreed 4, 5, 7) as MoFeTSg homocitrate as in Fig. 4. FeMoco is bound to the a subunit through residues Cys 275, to the terminal tetrahedral iron atom, and His 442 to the molybdenum atom (residue numbers refer to A. vinelandii). A number of other residues in its environment are hydrogen bonded to FeMoco and are essential to its activity (see Section V,E,2). The metal... 

Fig. 4. Structure of the iron molybdenum cofactor, FeMoco (after Chan, Kim, and Rees, (4) Bolin et al. (5) and Mayer et al. (7)). The FeMoco is ligated, within the a subunits of the a2j82 tetrameric structure, by residues Hisa442 and Cysa275 (Avl residue numbers).

Homocitrate is bound to the molybdenum atom by its 2-carboxy and 2-hydroxy groups and projects down from the molybdenum atom of the cofactor toward the P clusters. This end of FeMoco is surrounded by several water molecules (5, 7), which has led to the suggestion that homocitrate might be involved in proton donation to the active site for substrate reduction. In contrast, the cysteine-ligated end of FeMoco is virtually anhydrous. 

A preparation of the third nitrogenase from A. vinelandii, isolated from a molybdenum-tolerant strain but lacking the structural genes for the molybdenum and vanadium nitrogenases, was discovered to contain FeMoco 194). The 8 subunit encoded by anfG was identified in this preparation, which contained 24 Fe atoms and 1 Mo atom per mol. EPR spectroscopy and extraction of the cofactor identified it as FeMoco. The hybrid enzyme could reduce N2 to ammonia and reduced acetylene to ethylene and ethane. The rate of formation of ethane was nonlinear and the ethane ethylene ratio was strongly dependent on the ratio of nitrogenase components. 

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.

Actual electron transfer to the dinitrogen substrate at the MoFe-protein, with electrons first passing through the MoFe-protein s P-cluster. During this process, dinitrogen is most probably bound to the iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMoco) of the MoFe-protein.6... 

Originally the FeMoco was reported to contain iron, molybdenum and sulfide in a 8 1 6 atomic ratio (2). Subsequent analytical determinations gave Fe/Mo ratios of 7 1 (3) and 8.2 0.4 1 (4). The most recent analytical data on functional FeMoco, isolated by a mild procedure, indicates (5) a Fe/Mo ratio of 5 0.5 1. A similar fluctuation in analytical results is also apparent in several determinations of sulfur content, and ratios of S/Mo as low as 4 1 (3) and as high as 9 or 8.T (4) have been reported. 

FeMoco, both as a constituent of the FeMo protein and an isolated entity, has been the subject of detailed spectroscopic examination. 57Fe Mossbauer and EPR studies of the cofactor have been interpreted in terms of an S = centre that contains one molybdenum and ca. six irons in a spin-coupled structure. The EPR signal serves as a valuable fingerprint of FeMoco furthermore, release of FeMoco from the FeMo protein produces an EPR spectrum with broader features, but the same profile, thereby indicating that the core of this cluster is little changed by the extraction procedure. Treatment of FeMoco with ca. one equivalent of... 

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