Publications

• Four crystal structures of the 60 kDa flavoprotein monomer of the sulfite reductase indicate a disordered flavodoxin-like module.

  Gruez A., Pignol D., Zeghouf M., Coves J., Fontecave M., Ferrer J.-L., Fontecilla-Camps J.-C.

  Escherichia coli NADPH-sulfite reductase (SiR) is a 780 kDa multimeric hemoflavoprotein composed of eight alpha-subunits (SiR-FP) and four beta-subunits (SiR-HP) that catalyses the six electron reduction of sulfite to sulfide. Each beta-subunit contains a Fe4S4 cluster and a siroheme, and each alp ... >> More

  Escherichia coli NADPH-sulfite reductase (SiR) is a 780 kDa multimeric hemoflavoprotein composed of eight alpha-subunits (SiR-FP) and four beta-subunits (SiR-HP) that catalyses the six electron reduction of sulfite to sulfide. Each beta-subunit contains a Fe4S4 cluster and a siroheme, and each alpha-subunit binds one FAD and one FMN as prosthetic groups. The FAD gets electrons from NADPH, and the FMN transfers the electrons to the metal centers of the beta-subunit for sulfite reduction. We report here the 1.94 A X-ray structure of SiR-FP60, a recombinant monomeric fragment of SiR-FP that binds both FAD and FMN and retains the catalytic properties of the native protein. The structure can be divided into three domains. The carboxy-terminal part of the enzyme is composed of an antiparallel beta-barrel which binds the FAD, and a variant of the classical pyridine dinucleotide binding fold which binds NADPH. These two domains form the canonic FNR-like module, typical of the ferredoxin NADP+ reductase family. By analogy with the structure of the cytochrome P450 reductase, the third domain, composed of seven alpha-helices, is supposed to connect the FNR-like module to the N-terminal flavodoxine-like module. In four different crystal forms, the FMN-binding module is absent from electron density maps, although mass spectroscopy, amino acid sequencing and activity experiments carried out on dissolved crystals indicate that a functional module is present in the protein. Our results clearly indicate that the interaction between the FNR-like and the FMN-like modules displays lower affinity than in the case of cytochrome P450 reductase. The flexibility of the FMN-binding domain may be related, as observed in the case of cytochrome bc1, to a domain reorganisation in the course of electron transfer. Thus, a movement of the FMN-binding domain relative to the rest of the enzyme may be a requirement for its optimal positioning relative to both the FNR-like module and the beta-subunit. << Less

  J. Mol. Biol. 299:199-212(2000) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Sequence analysis and expression of the Salmonella typhimurium asr operon encoding production of hydrogen sulfide from sulfite.

  Huang C.J., Barrett E.L.

  A chromosomal locus of Salmonella typhimurium which complements S. typhimurium asr (anaerobic sulfite reduction) mutants and confers on Escherichia coli the ability to produce hydrogen sulfide from sulfite was recently cloned (C. J. Huang and E. L. Barrett, J. Bacteriol. 172:4100-4102, 1990). The ... >> More

  A chromosomal locus of Salmonella typhimurium which complements S. typhimurium asr (anaerobic sulfite reduction) mutants and confers on Escherichia coli the ability to produce hydrogen sulfide from sulfite was recently cloned (C. J. Huang and E. L. Barrett, J. Bacteriol. 172:4100-4102, 1990). The DNA sequence and the transcription start site have been determined. Analysis of the sequence and gene products revealed a functional operon containing three genes which have been designated asrA, asrB, and asrC, encoding peptides of 40, 31, and 37 kDa, respectively. The predicted amino acid sequences of both asrA and asrC contained arrangements of cysteines characteristic of [4Fe-4S] ferredoxins. The sequence of asrB contained a typical nucleotide-binding region. The sequence of asrC contained, in addition to the ferredoxinlike cysteine clusters, two other cysteine clusters closely resembling the proposed siroheme-binding site in biosynthetic sulfite reductase. Expression of lacZ fused to the asr promoter was repressed by oxygen and induced by sulfite. Analysis of promoter deletions revealed a region specific for sulfite regulation and a second region required for anaerobic expression. Computer-assisted DNA sequence analysis revealed a site just upstream of the first open reading frame which had significant homology to the FNR protein-binding site of E. coli NADH-linked nitrite reductase. However, asr expression by the fusion plasmid was not affected by site-specific mutations within the apparent FNR-binding site. << Less

  J. Bacteriol. 173:1544-1553(1991) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 1 other entry.

• Structures of the siroheme- and Fe4S4-containing active center of sulfite reductase in different states of oxidation: heme activation via reduction-gated exogenous ligand exchange.

  Crane B.R., Siegel L.M., Getzoff E.D.

  The active center of the Escherichia coli sulfite reductase hemoprotein (SiRHP) is exquisitely designed to catalyze the six-electron reductions of sulfite to sulfide and nitrite to ammonia. Refined high-resolution crystallographic structures of oxidized, two-electron reduced, and intermediately re ... >> More

  The active center of the Escherichia coli sulfite reductase hemoprotein (SiRHP) is exquisitely designed to catalyze the six-electron reductions of sulfite to sulfide and nitrite to ammonia. Refined high-resolution crystallographic structures of oxidized, two-electron reduced, and intermediately reduced states of SiRHP, monitored by single-crystal electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, reveal that a bridging cysteine thiolate supplied by the protein always covalently links the siroheme (iron isobacteriochlorin) to the Fe4S4 cluster, facilitating their ability to transfer electrons to substrate. The reduction potential and reactivity of the cluster are tuned by association with the siroheme, accessibility to solvent, and hydrogen bonds supplied by the protein loops containing the four cluster-ligating cysteines. The distorted conformation of the siroheme recognized by the protein potentially destabilizes the electronic conjugation of the isobacteriochlorin ring and produces axial configurations for some propionate side chains that promote interactions with exogenous ligands and active-site residues. An extensive hydrogen-bond network of positively charged side chains, ordered water molecules, and siroheme carboxylates coordinates, polarizes, and influences the protonation state of anionic ligands. In the oxidized (siroheme Fe3+, Fe4S42+) SiRHP crystal structure, the high density of positive charges in the binding pocket is stabilized by the siroheme's sixth axial ligand-an exogenous phosphate anion. Binding assays with H32PO42-demonstrate that oxidized SiRHP binds phosphate in solution with a dissociation constant of 14 microM at pH 7.7, suggesting that phosphate anions play an important role in stabilizing and sequestering the active-site of the oxidized enzyme in vivo. Reduction of the cofactors couples changes in siroheme iron coordination geometry to changes in active-site protein conformation, leading to phosphate release both in the crystal and in solution. An intermediately reduced enzyme, where the siroheme is mainly ferrous (+2) and the cluster cubane is mainly oxidized (+2), appears to have the lowest affinity for phosphate in the crystal. Reduction-gated release of phosphate from the substrate-binding site may explain the 10(5)-fold increase in rates of ligand association that accompany reduction of SiRHP. << Less

  Biochemistry 36:12101-12119(1997) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Flavin mononucleotide-binding domain of the flavoprotein component of the sulfite reductase from Escherichia coli.

  Coves J., Zeghouf M., Macherel D., Guigliarelli B., Asso M., Fontecave M.

  The flavoprotein component (SiR-FP) of the sulfite reductase from Escherichia coli is an octamer containing one FAD and one FMN as cofactors per polypeptide chain. We have constructed an expression vector containing the DNA fragment encoding for the FMN-binding domain of SiR-FP. The overexpressed ... >> More

  The flavoprotein component (SiR-FP) of the sulfite reductase from Escherichia coli is an octamer containing one FAD and one FMN as cofactors per polypeptide chain. We have constructed an expression vector containing the DNA fragment encoding for the FMN-binding domain of SiR-FP. The overexpressed protein (SiR-FP23) was purified as a partially flavin-depleted polymer. It could incorporate FMN exclusively upon flavin reconstitution to reach a maximum flavin content of 1.2 per polypeptide chain. Moreover, the protein could stabilize a neutral air-stable semiquinone radical over a wide range of pHs. During photoreduction, the flavin radical accumulated first, followed by the fully reduced state. The redox potentials, determined at room temperature [E'1 (FMNH./FMN) = -130 +/-10 mV and E'2 (FMNH2/FMNH.) = -335 +/-10 mV], were very close to those previously reported for Salmonella typhimurium SiR-FP [Ostrowski, J., Barber, M. J., Rueger, D. C., Miller, B. E., Siegel, L. M., & Kredich, N. M. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 15796-15808]. Both the radical and fully reduced forms of SiR-FP23 were able to transfer their electrons to cytochrome c quantitatively. Altogether, the results presented herein demonstrate that the N-terminal end of E. coli SiR-FP forms the FMN-binding domain. It folds independently, thus retaining the chemical properties of the bound FMN, and provides a good model of the FAD-depleted form of native SiR-FP. Moreover, the FMN prosthetic group in SiR-FP23 and native SiR-FP is compared to that of cytochrome P450 reductase and bacterial cytochrome P450, which also contain one FAD and one FMN per polypeptide chain. << Less

  Biochemistry 36:5921-5928(1997) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]