Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Imlay JA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3057177 | biostudies-literature | 2008
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Annual review of biochemistry 20080101
Life evolved in an anaerobic world; therefore, fundamental enzymatic mechanisms and biochemical pathways were refined and integrated into metabolism in the absence of any selective pressure to avoid reactivity with oxygen. After photosystem II appeared, environmental oxygen levels rose very slowly. During this time, microorganisms acquired oxygen tolerance by jettisoning enzymes that use glycyl radicals and exposed low-potential iron-sulfur clusters, which can be directly poisoned by oxygen. The ...[more]