Identification of variant molecules of Bacillus thermoproteolyticus ferredoxin: crystal structure reveals bound coenzyme A and an unexpected [3Fe-4S] cluster associated with a canonical [4Fe-4S] ligand motif.

During the purification of recombinant Bacillus thermoproteolyticus ferredoxin (BtFd) from Escherichia coli, we have noted that some Fe-S proteins were produced in relatively small amounts compared to the originally identified BtFd carrying a [4Fe-4S] cluster. These variants could be purified into three Fe-S protein components (designated as V-I, V-II, and V-III) by standard chromatography procedures. UV-vis and EPR spectroscopic analyses indicated that each of these variants accommodates a [3Fe-4S] cluster. From mass spectrometric and protein sequence analyses together with native and SDS gel electrophoresis, we established that V-I and V-II contain the polypeptide of BtFd associated with acyl carrier protein (ACP) and with coenzyme A (CoA), respectively, and that V-III is a BtFd dimer linked by a disulfide bond. The crystal structure of the BtFd-CoA complex (V-II) determined at 1.6 A resolution revealed that each of the four complexes in the crystallographic asymmetric unit possesses a [3Fe-4S] cluster that is coordinated by Cys(11), Cys(17), and Cys(61). The polypeptide chain of each complex is superimposable onto that of the original [4Fe-4S] BtFd except for the segment containing Cys(14), the fourth ligand to the [4Fe-4S] cluster of BtFd. In the variant molecules, the side chain of Cys(14) is rotated away to the molecular surface, forming a disulfide bond with the terminal sulfhydryl group of CoA. This covalent modification may have occurred in vivo, thereby preventing the assembly of the [4Fe-4S] cluster as observed previously for Desulfovibrio gigas ferredoxin. Possibilities concerning how the variant molecules are formed in the cell are discussed.