Structural and Phylogenetic Analysis of Rhodobacter capsulatus NifF: Uncovering General Features of Nitrogen-fixation (nif)-Flavodoxins
1
Department of Crystallography and Structural Biology, Institute of Physical-Chemistry "Rocasolano", CSIC, Serrano 119, Madrid 28006, Spain
2
Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Rosario (National University of Rosario and CONICET), Suipacha 531, S2002LRK-Rosario, Argentina
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2013, 14(1), 1152-1163; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms14011152
Received: 1 November 2012 / Revised: 14 November 2012 / Accepted: 20 November 2012 / Published: 9 January 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flavins)
Analysis of the crystal structure of NifF from Rhodobacter capsulatus and its homologues reported so far reflects the existence of unique structural features in nif flavodoxins: a leucine at the re face of the isoalloxazine, an eight-residue insertion at the C-terminus of the 50’s loop and a remarkable difference in the electrostatic potential surface with respect to non-nif flavodoxins. A phylogenetic study on 64 sequences from 52 bacterial species revealed four clusters, including different functional prototypes, correlating the previously defined as “short-chain” with the firmicutes flavodoxins and the “long-chain” with gram-negative species. The comparison of Rhodobacter NifF structure with other bacterial flavodoxin prototypes discloses the concurrence of specific features of these functional electron donors to nitrogenase.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Pérez-Dorado, I.; Bortolotti, A.; Cortez, N.; Hermoso, J.A. Structural and Phylogenetic Analysis of Rhodobacter capsulatus NifF: Uncovering General Features of Nitrogen-fixation (nif)-Flavodoxins. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2013, 14, 1152-1163.
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