skip to main content


Title: Redesigning the Blue Copper Azurin into a Redox-Active Mononuclear Nonheme Iron Protein: Preparation and Study of Fe(II)-M121E Azurin
Award ID(s):
1413328
NSF-PAR ID:
10033001
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Volume:
136
Issue:
35
ISSN:
0002-7863
Page Range / eLocation ID:
12337 to 12344
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. null (Ed.)
    Mononitrosyl and dinitrosyl iron species, such as {FeNO} 7 , {FeNO} 8 and {Fe(NO) 2 } 9 , have been proposed to play pivotal roles in the nitrosylation processes of nonheme iron centers in biological systems. Despite their importance, it has been difficult to capture and characterize them in the same scaffold of either native enzymes or their synthetic analogs due to the distinct structural requirements of the three species, using redox reagents compatible with biomolecules under physiological conditions. Here, we report the realization of stepwise nitrosylation of a mononuclear nonheme iron site in an engineered azurin under such conditions. Through tuning the number of nitric oxide equivalents and reaction time, controlled formation of {FeNO} 7 and {Fe(NO) 2 } 9 species was achieved, and the elusive {FeNO} 8 species was inferred by EPR spectroscopy and observed by Mössbauer spectroscopy, with complemental evidence for the conversion of {FeNO} 7 to {Fe(NO) 2 } 9 species by UV-Vis, resonance Raman and FT-IR spectroscopies. The entire pathway of the nitrosylation process, Fe( ii ) → {FeNO} 7 → {FeNO} 8 → {Fe(NO) 2 } 9 , has been elucidated within the same protein scaffold based on spectroscopic characterization and DFT calculations. These results not only enhance the understanding of the dinitrosyl iron complex formation process, but also shed light on the physiological roles of nitric oxide signaling mediated by nonheme iron proteins. 
    more » « less