Ferredoxin

Structures of the all cysteinyl coordinated D14C variant of ferredoxin from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus have been determined for the <-> and forms (). The [4Fe-4S] form diffracted to 1.7 Å and two different types of molecules were found in the crystal (2z8q). They have different crystal packing and intramolecular disulfide bond conformation. The crystal packing reveals a (shown in blue and green) in adjacent asymmetric units, while (shown in red and yellow). The while the intramolecular disulfide bond in the (, molecule A is shown in blue and molecule B in green).

pH dependent equilibrium of D14C [3Fe-4S] P. furiosus ferredoxin between protonated and deprotonated monomers and formation of a disulfide bonded dimer from deprotonated monomers. Fd is short for ferredoxin.

Two forms of D14C [3Fe-4S] Pyrococcus furiosus ferredoxin are obtained when purified at pH 8.0: a monomer and a dimer connected by an intermolecular disulfide bond (see static image at the left). When purified at pH 5.8, only the monomer is obtained. The [3Fe-4S] form diffracted to 2.8 Å resolution and showed only the . Crystal packing in (shown in red and orange), which is the same as (1sj1, shown in blue and cyan) even though the space groups are different (see also corresponding side views for ) and ).^[1]

Biological iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are functionally versatile, modular prosthetic groups. The electronic structure and the site of iron reduction of these protein-bound cofactors account for the electron transfer function and mechanism. In the present work we have solved the structure of the ISC-like [2Fe-2S] ferredoxin called FdxB from the non-pathogenic gammaproteobacterium Pseudomonas putida JCM 20004 (formerly Pseudomonas ovalis IAM 1002). This FdxB protein contains an adrenodoxin (Adx) like, redox-active [2Fe-2S] cluster, which plays an essential role in the de novo iron-sulfur cluster assembly (ISC) system. It is encoded by the fdxB gene as a constituent of the cognate iscR-iscS1-iscU-iscA-hscB-hscA-fdxB gene cluster for the ISC system (DDBJ-EMBL-GenBank code AB109467). In P. putida the ISC pathway is apparently the sole system for in vivo Fe-S cluster assembly whereas the SUF pathway is missing in the bacterial genome (unlike in Escherichia coli).

The has a βαββαβ fold with the β-grasp/ubiquitin-like fold motif as found in regular eukaryal and bacterial [2Fe-2S] ferredoxins (e.g. 1i7h, 1cje, 1e9m). FdxB is folded into an (α+β) . In the lattice displaying the . Each protomer binds a that is , where the and the . In the , suggesting that a rapid interprotomer electron transfer between them would be unlikely to occur. In the place of the consensus free cysteine usually present near the [2Fe-2S] cluster of ISC-like ferredoxins, FdxB has the Oδ2. Thus, the overall FdxB structural features argue for its primarily electron transfer role in the cognate ISC system, rather than the direct catalytic function.

With the molecular structural frame determined from the FdxB structure, our electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) analysis has allowed to determine the average g_max direction of the reduced FdxB, which is skewed, pointing roughly towards Cys50 Cα and forming an angle of about 27.3 (±4) degrees with the normal of the [2Fe-2S] plane, while the g_int- and g_min-directions are distributed in a plane tilted toward the cluster plane (see image below).

Skewed orientations of the g_max component (red) with respect to the molecular frame of the [2Fe–2S] cluster of FdxB.

The site of reduced iron in the reduced FdxB is the outermost Fe1 site with the low negative spin density, while the innermost Fe2 site with the high positive spin population is the non-reducible iron retaining the Fe3+-valence of a reduced cluster. From a structural point of view, the larger number of polarized (or polarizable) bonds (NH, OH) and the . These results suggest a significant distortion of the electronic structure of the reduced [2Fe-2S] cluster under the influence of the protein environment around each iron site in general.