Comparing crystallographic and solution structures of nitrogenase complexes.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J G Grossman.
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An essential feature of the mechanism of nitrogenase, the enzyme responsible for biological nitrogen fixation, is the formation of a transient electron transfer complex between the MoFe protein containing the active site at which N2 is reduced, and the Fe protein, which functions as a specific electron donor to the MoFe protein. We have obtained high quality solution X-ray scattering data using synchrotron X-rays of a stable putative electron transfer complex, (MoFe-protein)(Fe-protein.ADP.AIF4)2, of Klebsiella pneumoniae and used the model-independent approach based on the multipole expansion method to provide a stable and unique shape restoration at approximately 15 A resolution. The biological significance of this first molecular structure of a nitrogenase complex is discussed.