O2-independent formation of the inactive states of NiFe hydrogenase

Abbas Abou Hamdan (1) , Benedicte Burlat (1) , Oscar Gutierrez-Sanz (2) , Pierre-Pol Liebgott (1) , Carole Baffert (1) , Antonio L de Lacey (2) , Marc Rousset (1) , Bruno Guigliarelli (1) , Christophe Léger (1) , Sebastien Dementin (1)

1 BIP - Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines
2 CSIC - Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas

We studied the mechanism of aerobic inactivation of Desulfovibrio fructosovorans nickel-iron (NiFe) hydrogenase by quantitatively examining the results of electrochemistry, EPR and FTIR experiments. They suggest that, contrary to the commonly accepted mechanism, the attacking O2 is not incorporated as an active site ligand but, rather, acts as an electron acceptor. Our findings offer new ways toward the understanding of O2 inactivation and O2 tolerance in NiFe hydrogenases.

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Theoretical and/or physical chemistry; Chemical Sciences; Life Sciences [q-bio]

Abbas Abou Hamdan, Benedicte Burlat, Oscar Gutierrez-Sanz, Pierre-Pol Liebgott, Carole Baffert, et al.. O2-independent formation of the inactive states of NiFe hydrogenase. Nature Chemical Biology, 2013, 9 (1), pp.15 - 17. ⟨10.1038/nchembio.1110⟩. ⟨hal-01556905⟩