title: The Relationship between Environmental Dioxygen and Iron-Sulfur Proteins Explored at the Genome Level.
abstract: About 2 billion years ago, the atmosphere of the Earth experienced a great change due to the buildup of dioxygen produced by photosynthetic organisms. This transition caused a reduction of iron bioavailability and at the same time exposed living organisms to the threat of oxidative stress. Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters require iron ions for their biosynthesis and are labile if exposed to reactive oxygen species. To assess how the above transition influenced the usage of Fe-S clusters by organisms, we compared the distribution of the Fe-S proteins encoded by the genomes of more than 400 prokaryotic organisms as a function of their dioxygen requirements. Aerobic organisms use less Fe-S proteins than the majority of anaerobic organisms with a similar genome size. Furthermore, aerobes have evolved specific Fe-S proteins that bind the less iron-demanding and more chemically stable Fe2S2 clusters while reducing the number of Fe4S4-binding proteins in their genomes. However, there is a shared core of Fe-S protein families composed mainly by Fe4S4-binding proteins. Members of these families are present also in humans. The distribution of human Fe-S proteins within cell compartments shows that mitochondrial proteins are inherited from prokaryotic proteins of aerobes, whereas nuclear and cytoplasmic Fe-S proteins are inherited from anaerobic organisms.
authors.affiliation: Magnetic Resonance Center, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.|Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andreini
authors.affiliation: Magnetic Resonance Center, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.|Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosato
authors.affiliation: Magnetic Resonance Center, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.|Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Banci
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis / Q000235:genetics; D000693:Anaerobiosis / Q000235:genetics; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000235:genetics; D004777:Environment; D059646:Genome Size; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D010100:Oxygen