Cloning and Mutational Analysis of the γ Gene fromAzotobacter vinelandii Defines a New Family of Proteins Capable of Metallocluster Binding and Protein Stabilization

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 277; no. 16; p. 14299
• Main Authors: Luis M. Rubio, Priya Rangaraj, Mary J. Homer, Gary P. Roberts, Paul W. Ludden
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 19-04-2002
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M107289200

Dinitrogenase is a heterotetrameric (α 2 β 2 ) enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of dinitrogen to ammonium and contains the iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMo-co) at its
active site. Certain Azotobacter vinelandii mutant strains unable to synthesize FeMo-co accumulate an apo form of dinitrogenase (lacking FeMo-co), with a subunit composition
α 2 β 2 γ 2 , which can be activated in vitro by the addition of FeMo-co. The γ protein is able to bind FeMo-co or apodinitrogenase independently, leading to the suggestion
that it facilitates FeMo-co insertion into the apoenzyme. In this work, the non- nif gene encoding the γ subunit ( nafY ) has been cloned, sequenced, and found to encode a NifY-like protein. This finding, together with a wealth of knowledge on
the biochemistry of proteins involved in FeMo-co and FeV-co biosyntheses, allows us to define a new family of iron and molybdenum
(or vanadium) cluster-binding proteins that includes NifY, NifX, VnfX, and now γ. In vitro FeMo-co insertion experiments presented in this work demonstrate that γ stabilizes apodinitrogenase in the conformation required
to be fully activable by the cofactor. Supporting this conclusion, we show that strains containing mutations in both nafY and nifX are severely affected in diazotrophic growth and extractable dinitrogenase activity when cultured under conditions that are
likely to occur in natural environments. This finding reveals the physiological importance of the apodinitrogenase-stabilizing
role of which both proteins are capable. The relationship between the metal cluster binding capabilities of this new family
of proteins and the ability of some of them to stabilize an apoenzyme is still an open matter.