title: Nitrogenases-A Tale of Carbon Atom(s).
abstract: Named after its ability to catalyze the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia, nitrogenase has a surprising rapport with carbon-both through the interstitial carbide that resides in the central cavity of its cofactor and through its ability to catalyze the reductive carbon-carbon coupling of small carbon compounds into hydrocarbon products. Recently, a radical-SAM-dependent pathway was revealed for the insertion of carbide, which signifies a novel biosynthetic route to complex bridged metalloclusters. Moreover, a sulfur-displacement mechanism was proposed for the activation of carbon monoxide by nitrogenase, which suggests an essential role of the interstitial carbide in maintaining the stability while permitting a certain flexibility of the cofactor structure during substrate turnover.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697-3900, USA. yilinh@uci.edu.
authors.forename: Yilin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697-3900, USA. mribbe@uci.edu.
authors.forename: Markus W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Ribbe
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009591:Nitrogenase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon; D009591:Nitrogenase
keywords: CO activation; C−C coupling; interstitial carbide; nitrogenases; radicals