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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2001, p. 6225-6233, Vol. 183, No. 21
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology, Eberly College of Science, The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-4500
Received 11 April 2001/Accepted 7 August 2001
A total of 35 homologs of the iron-sulfur flavoprotein (Isf) from
Methanosarcina thermophila were identified in databases. All three domains were represented, and multiple homologs were present
in several species. An unusually compact cysteine motif ligating the
4Fe-4S cluster in Isf is conserved in all of the homologs except two,
in which either an aspartate or a histidine has replaced the second
cysteine in the motif. A phylogenetic analysis of Isf homologs
identified four subgroups, two of which were supported by bootstrap
data. Three homologs from metabolically and phylogenetically diverse
species in the Bacteria and Archaea domains
(Af3 from Archaeoglobus fulgidus, Cd1 from
Clostridium difficile, and Mj2 from Methanococcus
jannaschii) were overproduced in Escherichia coli.
Each homolog purified as a homodimer, and the UV-visible absorption
spectra were nearly identical to that of Isf. After reconstitution with
iron, sulfide, and flavin mononucleotide (FMN) the homologs contained
six to eight nonheme iron atoms and 1.6 to 1.7 FMN molecules per dimer,
suggesting that two 4Fe-4S or 3Fe-4S clusters and two FMN cofactors
were bound to each dimer, which is consistent with Isf data. Homologs
Af3 and Mj2 were reduced by CO in reactions catalyzed by cell
extract of acetate-grown M. thermophila, but Cd1 was not.
Homologs Af3 and Mj2 were reduced by CO in reactions catalyzed
by A. fulgidus and M. jannaschii cell extracts.
Cell extract of Clostridium thermoaceticum catalyzed CO
reduction of Cd1. Our database sequence analyses and biochemical characterizations indicate that Isf is the prototype of a family of
iron-sulfur flavoproteins that occur in members of all three domains.
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.21.6225-6233.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Iron-Sulfur Flavoprotein (Isf) from
Methanosarcina thermophila Is the Prototype of a Widely
Distributed Family
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Eberly College of Science, The
Pennsylvania State University, 205 South Frear Laboratory, University
Park, PA 16802-4500. Phone: (814) 863-5721. Fax: (814) 863-5721. E-mail: JGF3{at}psu.edu.
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