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- Title
On the Shoulders of Giants—Reaching for Nitrogenase.
- Authors
Einsle, Oliver
- Abstract
Only a single enzyme system—nitrogenase—carries out the conversion of atmospheric N2 into bioavailable ammonium, an essential prerequisite for all organismic life. The reduction of this inert substrate at ambient conditions poses unique catalytic challenges that strain our mechanistic understanding even after decades of intense research. Structural biology has added its part to this greater tapestry, and in this review, I provide a personal (and highly biased) summary of the parts of the story to which I had the privilege to contribute. It focuses on the crystallographic analysis of the three isoforms of nitrogenases at high resolution and the binding of ligands and inhibitors to the active-site cofactors of the enzyme. In conjunction with the wealth of available biochemical, biophysical, and spectroscopic data on the protein, this has led us to a mechanistic hypothesis based on an elementary mechanism of repetitive hydride formation and insertion.
- Subjects
NITROGENASES; COFACTORS (Biochemistry); NITROGEN fixation; ATMOSPHERIC oxygen; ENZYMES; TAPESTRY
- Publication
Molecules, 2023, Vol 28, Issue 24, p7959
- ISSN
1420-3049
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/molecules28247959