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- ************************************************************
- * 4Fe-4S ferredoxins, iron-sulfur binding region signature *
- ************************************************************
-
- Ferredoxins [1] are a group of iron-sulfur proteins which mediate electron
- transfer in a wide variety of metabolic reactions. Ferredoxins can be
- divided into several subgroups depending upon the physiological nature of the
- iron-sulfur cluster(s). One of these subgroups are the 4Fe-4S ferredoxins,
- which are found in bacteria and which are thus often referred as
- 'bacterial-type' ferredoxins. The structure of these proteins [2] consists of
- the duplication of a domain of twenty six amino acid residues; each of these
- domains contains four cysteine residues that bind to a 4Fe-4S center.
-
- A number of proteins have been found [3] that include one or more 4Fe-4S
- binding domains similar to those of bacterial-type ferredoxins. These proteins
- are listed below (references are only provided for recently determined
- sequences).
-
- - The iron-sulfur proteins of the succinate dehydrogenase and the fumarate
- reductase complexes (EC 1.3.99.1). These enzyme complexes, which are
- components of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, each contain three subunits: a
- flavoprotein, an iron-sulfur protein, and a b-type cytochrome. The iron-
- sulfur proteins contain three different iron-sulfur centers: a 2Fe-2S, a
- 3Fe-3S and a 4Fe-4S.
- - Escherichia coli anaerobic glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.99.5)
- This enzyme is composed of three subunits: A, B, and C. The C subunit seems
- to be an iron-sulfur protein with two ferredoxin-like domains in the N-
- terminal part of the protein.
- - Escherichia coli anaerobic dimethyl sulfoxide reductase. The B subunit of
- this enzyme (gene dmsB) is an iron-sulfur protein with four 4Fe-4S
- ferredoxin-like domains.
- - Escherichia coli formate hydrogenlyase. Two of the subunits of this
- oligomeric complex (genes hycB and hycF) seem to be iron-sulfur proteins
- that each contain two 4Fe-4S ferredoxin-like domains.
- - Methanobacterium formicicum formate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.2). This enzyme
- is used by the archaebacteria to grow on formate. The beta chain of this
- dimeric enzyme probably binds two 4Fe-4S centers.
- - Escherichia coli formate dehydrogenases N and O (EC 1.2.1.2). The beta
- chain of these two enzymes (genes fdnH and fdoH) are iron-sulfur proteins
- with four 4Fe-4S ferredoxin-like domains.
- - Desulfovibrio periplasmic [Fe] hydrogenase (EC 1.18.99.1). The large chain
- of this dimeric enzyme binds three 4Fe-4S centers, two of which are located
- in the ferredoxin-like N-terminal region of the protein.
- - Methanobacterium thermoautrophicum methyl viologen-reducing hydrogenase
- subunit mvhB, which contains six tandemly repeated ferredoxin-like domains
- and which probably binds twelve 4Fe-4S centers.
- - Salmonella typhimurium anaerobic sulfite reductase (EC 1.8.1.-) [4]. Two of
- the subunits of this enzyme (genes asrA and asrC) seem to both bind two
- 4Fe-4S centers.
- - A Ferredoxin-like protein (gene fixX) from the nitrogen-fixation genes
- locus of various Rhizobium species, and one from the Nif-region of
- Azotobacter species.
- - The 9 Kd polypeptide of chloroplast photosystem I [5] (gene psaC). This
- protein contains two low potential 4Fe-4S centers, referred as the A and B
- centers.
- - The chloroplast frxB protein which is predicted to carry two 4Fe-4S centers.
- - An ferredoxin from a primitive eukaryote, the enteric amoeba Entamobea
- histolytica.
-
- The pattern of cysteine residues in the iron-sulfur region is sufficient to
- detect this class of 4Fe-4S binding proteins.
-
- -Consensus pattern: C-x(2)-C-x(2)-C-x(3)-C-[PEG]
- [The four C's are 4Fe-4S ligands]
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: the majority
- of known 4Fe-4S sequences, with at least 5 exceptions.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: 14.
-
- -Note: in some bacterial ferredoxins, one of the two duplicated domains has
- lost one or more of the four conserved cysteines. The consequence of such
- variations is that these domains have either lost their iron-sulfur binding
- property or bind to a 3Fe-3S center instead of a 4Fe-4S center.
- -Note: the last residue of this pattern in most proteins belonging to this
- group, is a Pro; the only exceptions are the Rhizobium ferredoxin-like
- proteins which have Gly, and two Desulfovibrio ferredoxins which have Glu. It
- must also be noted that the three non 4Fe-4S-binding proteins which are
- picked-up by the pattern have Gly in this position of the pattern.
-
- -Last update: October 1993 / Text revised.
-
- [ 1] Meyer J.
- Trends Ecol. Evol. 3:222-226(1988).
- [ 2] Otaka E., Ooi T.
- J. Mol. Evol. 26:257-267(1987).
- [ 3] Beinert H.
- FASEB J. 4:2483-2492(1990).
- [ 4] Huang C.J., Barrett E.L.
- J. Bacteriol. 173:1544-1553(1991).
- [ 5] Knaff D.B.
- Trends Biochem. Sci. 13:460-461(1988).
-