Nitrogenase Assembly Mechanism

项目总结/摘要 固氮酶是一种复杂的金属酶，催化最显著的化学转化之一 在生物系统中：大气中二氮的核苷酸依赖性还原为生物可利用的氨。 人们对固氮酶组装机制的解码非常感兴趣，这不仅是因为它 显着的相关性固氮酶特异性反应，但也因为它的巨大影响， 一般金属蛋白生物发生。在这里，我们建议大大扩展我们对 固氮酶组装过程的遗传、生物化学、光谱和结构相结合 接近。棕色固氮菌的钼固氮酶的MoFe蛋白将是 建议的调查重点。通过我们提出的研究，我们希望进一步完善生物合成 MoFe蛋白及其相关簇的途径，这是一项持续的努力，最终目标是解开MoFe蛋白及其相关簇的分子机制。 固氮酶组装的分子机制此外，以固氮酶为模型系统， 我希望提供生物金属簇组装的一般主题，从长远来看，这可能证明 有助于开发复杂的化学合成的成功策略。 .

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Nitrogenase is a complex metalloenzyme that catalyzes one of the most remarkable chemical transformations in biological systems: the nucleotide-dependent reduction of atmospheric dinitrogen to bioavailable ammonia. There is an outstanding interest in decoding the assembly mechanism of nitrogenase, not only because of its significant relevance to nitrogenase-specific reactions, but also because of its tremendous implication for general metalloprotein biogenesis. Here we propose to greatly expand our understanding of the nitrogenase assembly process by combined genetic, biochemical, spectroscopic and structural approaches. The MoFe protein of the molybdenum nitrogenase of Azotobacter vinelandii will be the focus of the proposed investigation. Through our proposed studies, we expect to further refine the biosynthetic pathways of MoFe protein and its associated clusters, a continuous effort with an ultimate goal to unravel the molecular mechanism of nitrogenase assembly. Furthermore, using nitrogenase as a model system, we also hope to provide general themes of biological metal cluster assembly, which may, in the long run, prove instrumental in developing successful strategies for the chemical synthesis of complex metalloclusters. .