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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Helicobacter mustelae, a gastric pathogen of ferrets, synthesizes a distinct iron-dependent urease in addition to its archetypical nickel-containing enzyme. The iron-urease is oxygen-labile, with the inactive protein exhibiting a methemerythrin-like electronic spectrum. Significantly, incubation of the oxidized protein with dithionite under anaerobic conditions leads to restoration of activity and bleaching of the spectrum. Structural analysis of the oxidized species reveals a dinuclear iron metallocenter bridged by a lysine carbamate, closely resembling the traditional nickel-urease active site. Although the iron-urease is less active than the nickel-enzyme, its activity allows H. mustelae to survive the carnivore's low-nickel gastric environment.

Iron-containing urease in a pathogenic bacterium.,Carter EL, Tronrud DE, Taber SR, Karplus PA, Hausinger RP Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Jul 25. PMID:21788478^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.