• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.86-90
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• 2020

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are one of the most ancient yet essential cofactors mediating various essential biological processes. In prokaryotes, Fe-S clusters are generated via several distinctive biogenesis mechanisms, among which the ISC (Iron-Sulfur Cluster) mechanism plays a house-keeping role to satisfy cellular needs for Fe-S clusters. The Escherichia coli ISC mechanism is maintained by several essential protein factors, whose structural characterization has been of great interest to reveal mechanistic details of the Fe-S cluster biogenesis mechanisms. In particular, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic approaches have contributed much to elucidate dynamic features not only in the structural states of the protein components but also in the interaction between them. The present minireview discusses recent advances in elucidating structural features of IscU, the key player in the E. coli ISC mechanism. IscU accommodates exceptional structural flexibility for its versatile activities, for which NMR spectroscopy was particularly successful. We expect that understanding to the structural diversity of IscU provides critical insight to appreciate functional versatility of the Fe-S cluster biogenesis mechanism.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.6-9
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• 2024

HscA is a Hsp70-type chaperone protein that plays an essential role to mediate the iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster biogenesis mechanism in Escherichia coli. Like other Hsp70 chaperones, HscA is composed of two domains: the nucleotide binding domain (NBD), which can hydrolyze ATP and use its chemical energy to facilitate the Fe-S cluster transfer process, and the substrate binding domain (SBD), which directly interacts with the substrate, IscU, the scaffold protein of an Fe-S cluster. In the present work, we prepared the isolated SBD construct of HscA (HscA(SBD)) and conducted the solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments to have its backbone chemical shift assignment information. Due to low spectral quality of HscA(SBD), we obtained all the NMR data from the sample containing the peptide LPPVKIHC, the HscA-interaction motif of IscU, from which the chemical shift assignment could be done successfully. We expect that this information provides an important basis to execute detailed structural characterization of HscA and appreciate its interaction with IscU.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2024

IscU, the iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster scaffold protein, is an essential protein for biogenesis of Fe-S clusters. Previous studies showed that IscU manifests a metamorphic structural feature; at least two structural states, namely the structured state (S-state) and the disordered state (D-state), interconverting in a physiological condition, was observed. Moreover, subsequent studies demonstrated that the metamorphic flexibility of IscU is important for its Fe-S cluster assembly activity as well as for an efficient interaction with various partner proteins. Although solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been a useful tool to investigate this protein, the detailed molecular mechanism that sustains the structural heterogeneity of IscU is still unclear. To tackle this issue, we applied a high-pressure NMR (HP-NMR) technique to the IscU variant, IscU(I8K), which shows an increased population of the S-state. We found that the equilibrium between the S- and D-state was significantly perturbed by pressure application, and the specific regions of IscU exhibited more sensitivity to pressure than the other regions. Our results provide novel insights to appreciate the dynamic behaviors of IscU and the related versatile functionality.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1110-1119
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• 2022

Fe-S clusters are versatile and essential cofactors that participate in multiple and fundamental biological processes. In Escherichia coli, the biogenesis of these cofactors requires either the housekeeping Isc pathway, or the stress-induced Suf pathway which plays a general role under conditions of oxidative stress or iron limitation. In the present work, the Fe-S cluster assembly Isc and Suf systems of acidophilic Bacteria and Archaea, which thrive in highly oxidative environments, were studied. This analysis revealed that acidophilic microorganisms have a complete set of genes encoding for a single system (either Suf or Isc). In acidophilic Proteobacteria and Nitrospirae, a complete set of isc genes (iscRSUAX-hscBA-fdx), but not genes coding for the Suf system, was detected. The activity of the Isc system was studied in Leptospirillum sp. CF-1 (Nitrospirae). RT-PCR experiments showed that eight candidate genes were co-transcribed and conform the isc operon in this strain. Additionally, RT-qPCR assays showed that the expression of the iscS gene was significantly up-regulated in cells exposed to oxidative stress imposed by 260 mM Fe₂(SO₄)₃ for 1 h or iron starvation for 3 h. The activity of cysteine desulfurase (IscS) in CF-1 cell extracts was also upregulated under such conditions. Thus, the Isc system from Leptospirillum sp. CF-1 seems to play an active role in stressful environments. These results contribute to a better understanding of the distribution and role of Fe-S cluster protein biogenesis systems in organisms that thrive in extreme environmental conditions.