Nitrogenase Complex

Paul W Ludden, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001386

The nitrogenase complex carries out the fixation of nitrogen by reducing molecular dinitrogen (N2) to ammonium (math) and also reduces acetylene to ethylene. The two component proteins are dinitrogenase and dinitrogenase reductase. Although different metals can form the metal clusters contained in nitrogenase proteins, all nitrogenases have similar properties. The nitrogenase enzyme system is widely distributed among the Bacteria and the Archaea, with protein sequences highly conserved across the kingdoms.

Keywords: nitrogen fixation; nitrogenase; FeMo-co; P cluster; dinitrogenase reductase; nif

Figure 1. The path of electron flow in nitrogenase.
Figure 2. Metal clusters of nitrogenase proteins.
Figure 3. The acetylene reduction assay.
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 References
    book Bishop PE and Premakumar R (1992) "Alternative nitrogen fixation systems". In: Stacey G, Burris RH and Evans HJ (eds) Biological Nitrogen Fixation, pp. 736–762. New York: Chapman & Hall
    Georgiadis MM, Komiya H, Chakrabarti P, Woo D, Kornuc JJ and Rees DC (1992) Crystallographic structure of the nitrogenase iron protein from Azotobacter vinelandii. Science 257: 1653–1659.
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 Further Reading
    Burgess BK and Lowe DJ (1996) Mechanism of molybdenum nitrogenase. Chemistry Review 96: 2983–3011.
    book Burris RH (1975) "The acetylene-reduction technique". In: Nitrogen Fixation by Free-living Micro-organisms, pp. 249–257. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    Eady RR (1996) Structure–function relationships of alternative nitrogenases. Chemistry Review 96: 3013–3030.
    book Elmerich C, Kondorosi A and Newton W (1998) Biological Nitrogen Fixation for the 21st Century. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
    Howard JB and Rees DC (1994) Nitrogenase: a nucleotide-dependent molecular switch. Annual Review of Biochemistry 63: 235–264.
    Ludden PW and Roberts GP (1989) Regulation of nitrogenase activity by reversible ADP-ribosylation. Current Topics in Cellular Regulation 30: 23–55.
    Peters JW, Stowell MHB, Soltis SM, Finnegan MG, Johnson MK and Rees DC (1997) Redox dependent structural changes in the nitrogenase P-cluster. Biochemistry 36: 1181–1187.
    Seefeldt LC and Dean DR (1997) Role of nucleotides in nitrogenase catalysis. Accounts of Chemical Research 30: 260–266.
    book Stacey G, Burris R and Evans H (eds) (1992) Biological Nitrogen Fixation. New York: Chapman & Hall.

Related Sub-Topics:

Enzymes: Structure and Action Mechanism | Biosynthesis
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Article Title: Nitrogenase Complex
 
How to Cite close
Ludden, Paul W(Apr 2001) Nitrogenase Complex. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001386]