Reaction of the desulfoferrodoxin from Desulfoarculus baarsii with superoxide anion. Evidence for a superoxide reductase activity
TL;DR: UV-visible and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy studies revealed that the ferrous center of desulfoferrodoxin could specifically and efficiently reduce O⨪2, with a rate constant of 6–7 × 108 m −1 s−1, and it was shown that membrane and cytoplasmic E. coli protein extracts, using NADH and NADPH as electron donors, could reduce the O⩪2oxidized form of des sulfuroferrod toxin.
Abstract: Desulfoferrodoxin is a small protein found in sulfate-reducing bacteria that contains two independent mononuclear iron centers, one ferric and one ferrous. Expression of desulfoferrodoxin from Desulfoarculus baarsii has been reported to functionally complement a superoxide dismutase deficient Escherichia coli strain. To elucidate by which mechanism desulfoferrodoxin could substitute for superoxide dismutase in E. coli, we have purified the recombinant protein and studied its reactivity toward O-(2). Desulfoferrodoxin exhibited only a weak superoxide dismutase activity (20 units mg(-1)) that could hardly account for its antioxidant properties. UV-visible and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy studies revealed that the ferrous center of desulfoferrodoxin could specifically and efficiently reduce O-(2), with a rate constant of 6-7 x 10(8) M(-1) s(-1). In addition, we showed that membrane and cytoplasmic E. coli protein extracts, using NADH and NADPH as electron donors, could reduce the O-(2) oxidized form of desulfoferrodoxin. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that desulfoferrodoxin behaves as a superoxide reductase enzyme and thus provide new insights into the biological mechanisms designed for protection from oxidative stresses.
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TL;DR: The TrxR-catalyzed regeneration of several antioxidant compounds, including ascorbic acid (vitamin C), selenium-containing substances, lipoic acid, and ubiquinone are summarized.
2,632 citations
Cites background from "Reaction of the desulfoferrodoxin f..."
...These enzymes, the superoxide reductases (SOR), contain iron and have so far only been found in anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria, here called desulfoferrodoxin [104], the anaerobic archaea Pyrococcus furiosus, [105] or the microaerophilic bacterium causing venereal syphilis, Treponema pallidum [106]....
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TL;DR: Bacteria comprise an exceptionally accessible experimental system that has provided many of the answers to the remaining puzzles in an anaerobic world, and current research seeks to identify these.
Abstract: Life evolved in an anaerobic world; therefore, fundamental enzymatic mechanisms and biochemical pathways were refined and integrated into metabolism in the absence of any selective pressure to avoid reactivity with oxygen. After photosystem II appeared, environmental oxygen levels rose very slowly. During this time, microorganisms acquired oxygen tolerance by jettisoning enzymes that use glycyl radicals and exposed low-potential iron-sulfur clusters, which can be directly poisoned by oxygen. They also developed mechanisms to defend themselves against superoxide (O2−) and hydrogen peroxide, partially reduced oxygen species that are generated as inadvertent by-products of aerobic metabolism. Contemporary organisms have inherited both the vulnerabilities and the defenses of these ancestral microbes. Current research seeks to identify these, and bacteria comprise an exceptionally accessible experimental system that has provided many of the answers. This manuscript reviews recent developments and identifies re...
1,379 citations
TL;DR: The SORs and three very different types of SOD enzymes are redox-active metalloenzymes that have evolved entirely independently from one another for the purpose of lowering superoxide concentrations, suggesting that, from the start of the rise of O2 on Earth, the chemistry of superoxide has been an important factor during evolution.
Abstract: Superoxide, O2•–, is formed in all living organisms that come in contact with air, and, depending upon its biological context, it may act as a signaling agent, a toxic species, or a harmless intermediate that decomposes spontaneously Its levels are limited in vivo by two different types of enzymes, superoxide reductase (SOR) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) Although superoxide has long been an important factor in evolution, it was not so when life first emerged on Earth at least 35 billion years ago At that time, the early biosphere was highly reducing and lacking in any significant concentrations of dioxygen (O2), very different from what it is today Consequently, there was little or no O2•– and therefore no reason for SOR or SOD enzymes to evolve Instead, the history of biological O2•– probably commences somewhere around 24 billion years ago, when the biosphere started to experience what has been termed the “Great Oxidation Event”, a transformation driven by the increase in O2 levels, formed by cyanobacteria as a product of oxygenic photosynthesis1 The rise of O2 on Earth caused a reshaping of existing metabolic pathways, and it triggered the development of new ones2 Its appearance led to the formation of the so-called “reactive oxygen species” (ROS), for example, superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radical, and to a need for antioxidant enzymes and other antioxidant systems to protect against the growing levels of oxidative damage to living systems
Dioxygen is a powerful four-electron oxidizing agent, and the product of this reduction is water
1
When O2 is reduced in four sequential one-electron steps, the intermediates formed are the three major ROS, that is, O2•–, H2O2, and HO•
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Each of these intermediates is a potent oxidizing agent The consequences of their presence to early life must have been an enormous evolutionary challenge In the case of superoxide, we find the SOD and SOR enzymes to be widely distributed throughout current living organisms, both aerobic and anaerobic, suggesting that, from the start of the rise of O2 on Earth, the chemistry of superoxide has been an important factor during evolution
The SORs and three very different types of SOD enzymes are redox-active metalloenzymes that have evolved entirely independently from one another for the purpose of lowering superoxide concentrations SORs catalyze the one-electron reduction of O2•– to give H2O2, a reaction requiring two protons per superoxide reacted as well as an external reductant to provide the electron (eq 6) SODs catalyze the disproportionation of superoxide to give O2 and H2O2, a reaction requiring one proton per superoxide reacted, but no external reductant (eq 7)
6
7
All of the SOR enzymes contain only iron, while the three types of SODs are the nickel-containing SODs (NiSOD), the iron- or manganese-containing SODs (FeSOD and MnSOD), and the copper- and zinc-containing SODs (CuZnSOD) Although the structures and other properties of these four types of metalloenzymes are quite different, they all share several characteristics, including the ability to react rapidly and selectively with the small anionic substrate O2•– Consequently, there are some striking similarities between these otherwise dissimilar enzymes, many of which can be explained by considering the nature of the chemical reactivity of O2•– (see below)
Numerous valuable reviews describing the SOD and SOR enzymes have appeared over the years, but few have covered and compared all four classes of these enzymes, as we attempt to do here Thus, the purpose of this Review is to describe, compare, and contrast the properties of the SOR and the four SOD enzymes; to summarize what is known about their evolutionary pathways; and to analyze the properties of these enzymes in light of what is known of the inherent chemical reactivity of superoxide
641 citations
TL;DR: The history of Fe‐S clusters is an unusual one that has profoundly shaped contemporary microbial ecology, and aerobes remain vulnerable to iron restriction and oxidative stress, features that higher organisms exploit in defending themselves against bacterial pathogens.
Abstract: During the first billion years of life on the Earth, the environment was anaerobic. Iron and sulphur were plentiful, and they were recruited in the formation of iron-sulphur (Fe-S) clusters within ancient proteins. These clusters provided many enzymes with the ability to transfer electrons; to others they offered a cationic feature that tightly bound oxyanionic and nitrogenous metabolites. Still others acquired a crystallizing surface around which polypeptide could fold to establish a three-dimensional structure. However, the subsequent oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere by photosynthetic organisms created a threat to cluster-dependent proteins that still has not been fully resolved. By oxidizing environmental iron, oxygen limits its bioavailability, requiring that organisms employ complex schemes with which to satisfy their iron requirement. More directly, oxygen species convert exposed Fe-S clusters to unstable forms that quickly decompose. Some microbes responded to this dilemma by retreating to anaerobic habitats. Others abandoned the use of low-potential electron-transfer pathways, which rely upon the least stable cluster enzymes, and developed antioxidant strategies to protect the remainder. These adjustments were only partially successful: largely because of their reliance upon Fe-S clusters, aerobes remain vulnerable to iron restriction and oxidative stress, features that higher organisms exploit in defending themselves against bacterial pathogens. Thus, the history of Fe-S clusters is an unusual one that has profoundly shaped contemporary microbial ecology.
584 citations
Cites background from "Reaction of the desulfoferrodoxin f..."
...For one thing, although early surveys suggested that anaerobes are deficient in catalase and superoxide dismutase activities, it is now recognized that many of these organisms use peroxidases and superoxide reductases (Jenney et al., 1999; Lombard et al., 2000) to accomplish the same purpose....
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TL;DR: Making Low-Spin Co(III) More Reactive 840 3.2.1.
Abstract: 2.7.2. Models Containing Oxygenated Sulfurs 834 2.8. Reactivity Models 835 2.8.1. Models That Bind Inhibitors 836 2.8.2. Models That Bind Hydroxide 837 2.8.3. Models That Bind Nitriles 838 2.8.4. Models That Hydrolyze Nitriles 838 2.8.5. Making Low-Spin Co(III) More Reactive 840 3. Superoxide Reductase (SOR) 840 3.1. Enzyme Function 840 3.2. Active Site Structure and Mechanism 840 3.3. Exogenous Ligand Binding 842 3.4. Biomimetic Models of SOR 843 4. Perspective 845 5. References 846
251 citations
References
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: Using an improved method of gel electrophoresis, many hitherto unknown proteins have been found in bacteriophage T4 and some of these have been identified with specific gene products as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Using an improved method of gel electrophoresis, many hitherto unknown proteins have been found in bacteriophage T4 and some of these have been identified with specific gene products. Four major components of the head are cleaved during the process of assembly, apparently after the precursor proteins have assembled into some large intermediate structure.
203,017 citations
Book•
13 Jun 1985
TL;DR: 1. Oxygen is a toxic gas - an introduction to oxygen toxicity and reactive species, and the chemistry of free radicals and related 'reactive species'
Abstract: 1. Oxygen is a toxic gas - an introductionto oxygen toxicity and reactive species 2. The chemistry of free radicals and related 'reactive species' 3. Antioxidant defences Endogenous and Diet Derived 4. Cellular responses to oxidative stress: adaptation, damage, repair, senescence and death 5. Measurement of reactive species 6. Reactive species can pose special problems needing special solutions. Some examples. 7. Reactive species can be useful some more examples 8. Reactive species can be poisonous: their role in toxicology 9. Reactive species and disease: fact, fiction or filibuster? 10. Ageing, nutrition, disease, and therapy: A role for antioxidants?
21,528 citations
TL;DR: The demonstration that O2·- can reduce ferricytochrome c and tetranitromethane, and that superoxide dismutase, by competing for the superoxide radicals, can markedly inhibit these reactions, is demonstrated.
12,468 citations
TL;DR: The staining procedure for localizing superoxide dismutase on polyacrylamide electrophoretograms has been applied to extracts obtained from a variety of sources and could thus be assayed either in crude extracts or in purified protein fractions.
10,933 citations
TL;DR: Bacteria comprise an exceptionally accessible experimental system that has provided many of the answers to the remaining puzzles in an anaerobic world, and current research seeks to identify these.
Abstract: Life evolved in an anaerobic world; therefore, fundamental enzymatic mechanisms and biochemical pathways were refined and integrated into metabolism in the absence of any selective pressure to avoid reactivity with oxygen. After photosystem II appeared, environmental oxygen levels rose very slowly. During this time, microorganisms acquired oxygen tolerance by jettisoning enzymes that use glycyl radicals and exposed low-potential iron-sulfur clusters, which can be directly poisoned by oxygen. They also developed mechanisms to defend themselves against superoxide (O2−) and hydrogen peroxide, partially reduced oxygen species that are generated as inadvertent by-products of aerobic metabolism. Contemporary organisms have inherited both the vulnerabilities and the defenses of these ancestral microbes. Current research seeks to identify these, and bacteria comprise an exceptionally accessible experimental system that has provided many of the answers. This manuscript reviews recent developments and identifies re...
1,379 citations