Reconstructing early microbial life

B Kaçar - Annual Review of Microbiology, 2024 - annualreviews.org
For more than 3.5 billion years, life experienced dramatic environmental extremes on Earth.
These include shifts from oxygen-less to overoxygenated atmospheres and cycling between …

Unearthing the soil-bacteria nexus to enhance potassium bioavailability for global sustainable agriculture: A mechanistic preview

S Babar, A Baloch, M Qasim, J Wang, X Wang… - Microbiological …, 2024 - Elsevier
Established as a plant macronutrient, potassium (K) substantially bestows plant growth and
thus, global food production. It is absorbed by plants as potassium cation (K+) from soil …

The iron nitrogenase reduces carbon dioxide to formate and methane under physiological conditions: A route to feedstock chemicals

NN Oehlmann, FV Schmidt, M Herzog, AL Goldman… - Science …, 2024 - science.org
Nitrogenases are the only known enzymes that reduce molecular nitrogen (N2) to ammonia.
Recent findings have demonstrated that nitrogenases also reduce the greenhouse gas …

Emergence of an orphan nitrogenase protein following atmospheric oxygenation

B Cuevas-Zuviría, AK Garcia, AJ Rivier… - Molecular Biology …, 2024 - academic.oup.com
Molecular innovations within key metabolisms can have profound impacts on element
cycling and ecological distribution. Yet, much of the molecular foundations of early evolved …

Protonation of Homocitrate and the E1 State of Fe-Nitrogenase Studied by QM/MM Calculations

H Jiang, KJM Lundgren, U Ryde - Inorganic Chemistry, 2023 - ACS Publications
Nitrogenase is the only enzyme that can cleave the strong triple bond in N2, making nitrogen
available for biological life. There are three isozymes of nitrogenase, differing in the …

Combining Protein Phase Separation and Bio‐orthogonal Linking to Coimmobilize Enzymes for Cascade Biocatalysis

S Wu, L Luo, H Luo, L Qiao, H Chen, M Li, X Pei, T Xie… - Small, 2024 - Wiley Online Library
The designed and ordered co‐immobilization of multiple enzymes for vectorial biocatalysis
is challenging. Here, a combination of protein phase separation and bioorthogonal linking is …

Structural evolution of nitrogenase states under alkaline turnover

RA Warmack, DC Rees - Nature Communications, 2024 - nature.com
Biological nitrogen fixation, performed by the enzyme nitrogenase, supplies nearly 50% of
the bioavailable nitrogen pool on Earth, yet the structural nature of the enzyme intermediates …

Proteomic strategies to interrogate the FeS proteome

DW Bak, E Weerapana - Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Molecular …, 2024 - Elsevier
Iron‑sulfur (Fesingle bondS) clusters, inorganic cofactors composed of iron and sulfide,
participate in numerous essential redox, non-redox, structural, and regulatory biological …

Anaerobic cryoEM protocols for air-sensitive nitrogenase proteins

RA Warmack, BB Wenke, T Spatzal, DC Rees - Nature Protocols, 2024 - nature.com
Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) provides an attractive avenue for
advancing our atomic resolution understanding of materials, molecules and living systems …

Biocatalysis of CO2 and CH4: Key enzymes and challenges

A Li, X Cao, R Fu, S Guo, Q Fei - Biotechnology Advances, 2024 - Elsevier
Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is a critical challenge for promoting global
sustainability. The utilization of CO 2 and CH 4 as substrates for the production of valuable …