THE STRUCTURE OF IRON-SULFUR PROTEINS

Ferredoxins are a group of iron-sulfur proteins for which a wealth of structural and mutational data have recently become available. Previou sly unknown structures of ferredoxins which are adapted to halophilic, acidophilic or hyperthermophilic environments and new cysteine patter ns for cluster ligation and non-cysteine cluster ligation have been de scribed. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments have given insight into factors that influence the geometry, stability, redox potential, elec tronic properties and electron-transfer reactivity of iron-sulfur clus ters. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.