Molybdenum nitrogenase electron transfer

Molybdenum. Molybdenum is a component of the metaHoen2ymes xanthine oxidase, aldehyde oxidase, and sulfite oxidase in mammals (130). Two other molybdenum metaHoen2ymes present in nitrifying bacteria have been characteri2ed nitrogenase and nitrate reductase (131). The molybdenum in the oxidases, is involved in redox reactions. The heme iron in sulfite oxidase also is involved in electron transfer (132). 

Fig. 8. The Fe protein cycle of molybdenum nitrogenase. This cycle describes the transfer of one electron from the Fe protein (F) to one afi half of the MoFe protein (M) with the accompEmying hydrolysis of 2MgATP to 2MgADP + 2Pf. The rate-determining step is the dissociation of F (MgADP)2 from M,rf. Subscript red = reduced and ox = oxidized.

The N2-fixing enzyme used by the bacteria is nitrogenase. It consists of two components an Fe protein that contains an [Fe4S4] cluster as a redox system (see p. 106), accepts electrons from ferredoxin, and donates them to the second component, the Fe-Mo protein. This molybdenum-containing protein transfers the electrons to N2 and thus, via various intermediate steps, produces ammonia (NH3). Some of the reducing equivalents are transferred in a side-reaction to In addition to NH3, hydrogen is therefore always produced as well. 

Nitrogen Fixation in Nature The nitrogenase enzyme is a two-component protein that consists of an electron-transfer Fe protein and a catalytic protein [85]. Three different nitrogenase enzymes are known, which differ primarily in the nature of the putative active site within the catalytic protein. The most common form is the MoFe protein, in which the active site for nitrogen reduction, the so-called FeMo cofactor (FeMoco), is composed of seven irons, one molybdenum, and nine sulfides... 

The substrate half-reactions are displayed in Tables I and II. In each case, a two-electron process seems to be involved. Only in nitro-genase are greater numbers of electrons transferred, and the discussion earlier in this paper summarizes the evidence that these processes occur in two-electron steps. The two-electron reaction of the molybdenum site never appears to be simply an electron transfer reaction. In the case of nitrogenase, each substrate takes up an equal (or greater) number of protons to form the product. In the other molybdenum enzymes, proton transfer and addition or removal of H20 are also required. In each case, however, there is at least one proton transferred in the same direction as the pair of electrons. These data, taken in conjunction with the EPR evidence for proton transfer from the substrate to the active site in xanthine oxidase, suggest that the molybdenum site in all the enzymes... 

Mechanistic speculations about the molybdoenzymes must be considered to be in their infancy with the possible exception of those for xanthine oxidase. Although the detailed structural nature of the molybdenum site is unknown, there is sufficient information from biochemical and coordination chemistry studies to allow informed arguments to be drawn. Here we first discuss evidence for the nuclearity of the molybdenum site and then discuss both oxo-transfer and proton-electron transfer mechanisms for molybdenum enzymes. A final discussion considers the unique aspects of nitrogenase and the possible reasons for the use of molybdenum in enzymes. 

Avaible experimental structural and kinetics data and energetic considerations indicate two plausible roles of ATP in the nitrogenase reduction a) the triggering of electron transfer from iron protein to iron-molybdenum protein (Howard and Rees, 1994 Rees and Howard, 2000) and the strengthening reducing power of the enzyme catalytic redox centers (Likhtenshtein and Shilov, 1977, Likhenshtein 1988a, Syrtsova and Timofeeva, 2001 see also Section 6.1.4). 

The sequential electron transfer path in nitrogenase is followed first models of the Fe4S4 cluster of the iron-protein are discussed, then mimics of the P-cluster in the molybdenum-iron protein, and finally structural and functional models of the FeMo-cofactor are summarized. 

The oxidation of glucose generates 3140 kj/mol and with 100 % efficiency only about 0.11 mol of glucose would be required to produce one mole of ammonia. This ideal can, of course, never be achieved. In the molybdenum-containing nitrogenase a transfer of eight electrons is involved in one catalytic cycle ... 

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