Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wiig JA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3836454 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Wiig Jared A JA Hu Yilin Y Chung Lee Chi C Ribbe Markus W MW
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20120901 6102
The active site of nitrogenase, the M-cluster, is a metal-sulfur cluster containing a carbide at its core. Using radiolabeling experiments, we show that this carbide originates from the methyl group of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and that it is inserted into the M-cluster by the assembly protein NifB. Our SAM cleavage and deuterium substitution analyses suggest a similarity between the mechanism of carbon insertion by NifB and the proposed mechanism of RNA methylation by the radical SAM enzymes R ...[more]