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Cysteine Ligands (cysteine + ligand)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Chemistry100%

Selected Abstracts

Cloning, purification, crystallization and X-ray crystallographic analysis of Ignicoccus hospitalis neelaredoxin

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2010
Filipa G. Pinho
Superoxide reductases (SORs) are metalloproteins which constitute the most recently identified oxygen-detoxification system in anaerobic and microaerobic bacteria and archaea. SORs are involved in scavenging superoxide radicals from the cell by catalyzing the reduction of superoxide () to hydrogen peroxide and are characterized by a catalytic nonhaem iron centre coordinated by four histidine ligands and one cysteine ligand. Ignicoccus hospitalis, a hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon, is known to have a neelaredoxin-type SOR that keeps toxic oxygen species levels under control. Blue crystals of recombinant I. hospitalis oxidized neelaredoxin (14.1,kDa, 124 residues) were obtained. These crystals diffracted to 2.4,Å resolution in-house at room temperature and belonged to the hexagonal space group P6222 or P6422, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 108, c = 64,Å. Cell-content analysis indicated the presence of one monomer in the asymmetric unit. [source]

Aldehydes release zinc from proteins.

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 18 2006
A pathway from oxidative stress/lipid peroxidation to cellular functions of zinc
Oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, hyperglycemia-induced glycations and environmental exposures increase the cellular concentrations of aldehydes. A novel aspect of the molecular actions of aldehydes, e.g. acetaldehyde and acrolein, is their reaction with the cysteine ligands of zinc sites in proteins and concomitant zinc release. Stoichiometric amounts of acrolein release zinc from zinc,thiolate coordination sites in proteins such as metallothionein and alcohol dehydrogenase. Aldehydes also release zinc intracellularly in cultured human hepatoma (HepG2) cells and interfere with zinc-dependent signaling processes such as gene expression and phosphorylation. Thus both acetaldehyde and acrolein induce the expression of metallothionein and modulate protein tyrosine phosphatase activity in a zinc-dependent way. Since minute changes in the availability of cellular zinc have potent effects, zinc release is a mechanism of amplification that may account for many of the biological effects of aldehydes. The zinc-releasing activity of aldehydes establishes relationships among cellular zinc, the functions of endogenous and xenobiotic aldehydes, and redox stress, with implications for pathobiochemical and toxicologic mechanisms. [source]

Role of glutathione in the formation of the active form of the oxygen sensor FNR ([4Fe-4S]·FNR) and in the control of FNR function

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 15 2000
Quang Hon Tran
The oxygen sensor regulator FNR (fumarate nitrate reductase regulator) of Escherichia coli is known to be inactivated by O2 as the result of conversion of a [4Fe-4S] cluster of the protein into a [2Fe-2S] cluster. Further incubation with O2 causes loss of the [2Fe-2S] cluster and production of apoFNR. The reactions involved in cluster assembly and reductive activation of apoFNR isolated under anaerobic or aerobic conditions were studied in vivo and in vitro. In a gshA mutant of E. coli that was completely devoid of glutathione, the O2 tension for the regulatory switch for FNR-dependent gene regulation was decreased by a factor of 4,5 compared with the wild-type, suggesting a role for glutathione in FNR function. In isolated apoFNR, glutathione could be used as the reducing agent for HS, formation required for [4Fe-4S] assembly by cysteine desulfurase (NifS), and for the reduction of cysteine ligands of the FeS cluster in FNR. Air-inactivated FNR (apoFNR without FeS) could be reconstituted to [4Fe-4S]·FNR by the same reaction as used for apoFNR isolated under anaerobic conditions. The in vivo effects of glutathione on FNR function and the role of glutathione in the formation of active [4Fe-4S]·FNR in vitro suggest an important role for glutathione in the de novo assembly of FNR and in the reductive activation of air-oxidized FNR under anaerobic conditions. [source]

Theoretical studies on effects of hydrogen bonds attaching to cysteine ligands on 4Fe-4S clusters

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 15 2008
Y. Kitagawa
Abstract The effect of hydrogen bonds attaching to sulfur atoms of cysteine ligands on 4Fe-4S cluster is examined by using UB3LYP method. Calculated results indicate that an existence of the hydrogen bonds scarcely changes SOMO-SUMO gap, shapes of Kohn-Sham orbitals, and magnetic interactions between Fe ions, although it stabilizes Kohn-Sham orbital energies of SOMO and SUMO about 1.0 eV. And they also make a reduced state stable in comparison with an oxidized state. In addition, the point charges of +0.1e (e: elementary electric charge) at the position of the hydrogen atoms give almost same results to the hydrogen bonds quantitatively. The results suggest that a positive environment from the hydrogen bonds around the clusters is important for a redox potential of 4Fe-4S clusters. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008 [source]