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Iron‐coproporphyrin III is a natural cofactor in bacterioferritin from the anaerobic bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans
Author(s) -
Romão Célia V.,
Louro Ricardo,
Timkovich Russel,
Lübben Mathias,
Liu Ming-Yih,
LeGall Jean,
Xavier António V.,
Teixeira Miguel
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(00)01939-6
Subject(s) - cofactor , bacteria , desulfovibrio , heme , anaerobic bacteria , chemistry , biochemistry , anaerobic exercise , biology , enzyme , physiology , genetics
A bacterioferritin was recently isolated from the anaerobic sulphate‐reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 27774 [Romão et al. (2000) Biochemistry 39, 6841–6849]. Although its properties are in general similar to those of the other bacterioferritins, it contains a haem quite distinct from the haem B, found in bacterioferritins from aerobic organisms. Using visible and NMR spectroscopies, as well as mass spectrometry analysis, the haem is now unambiguously identified as iron‐coproporphyrin III, the first example of such a prosthetic group in a biological system. This unexpected finding is discussed in the framework of haem biosynthetic pathways in anaerobes and particularly in sulphate‐reducing bacteria.