Substrate, product, and cofactor: The extraordinarily flexible relationship between the CDE superfamily and heme.

PFam Clan 0032, also known as the CDE superfamily, is a diverse group of at least 20 protein families sharing a common α,β-barrel domain. Of these, six different groups bind heme inside the barrel's interior, using it alternately as a cofactor, substrate, or product. Focusing on these six, an integrated picture of structure, sequence, taxonomy, and mechanism is presented here, detailing how a single structural motif might be able to mediate such an array of functions with one of nature's most important small molecules.