• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.124-128
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• 2011

Ferredoxin is a typical iron-sulfur protein that is ubiquitous in biological redox systems. This study investigates the in vitro assembly of a [$Fe_2S_2$] cluster in the ferredoxin from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans in the presence of three scaffold proteins: IscA, IscS, and IscU. The spectra and MALDI-TOF MS results for the reconstituted ferredoxin confirm that the iron-sulfur cluster was correctly assembled in the protein. The inactivation of cysteine desulfurase by L-allylglycine completely blocked any [$Fe_2S_2$] cluster assembly in the ferredoxin in E. coli, confirming that cysteine desulfurase is an essential component for iron-sulfur cluster assembly. The present results also provide strong evidence that [$Fe_2S_2$] cluster assembly in ferredoxin follows the AUS pathway.