Blog Post

Title: SAXS of Oxygen-sensitive Enzyme Complexes Behind a Newly-discovered Mode of Energy Conservation - Dataset XSDUNFBU

Body: Electron bifurcation is a newly-discovered but evolutionarily ancient mode of enzymatic energy conservation wherein electron transfer to a low-potential, high-energy acceptor is coupled to electron transfer to a high-potential, low-energy acceptor in a simultaneous and thermodynamically favorable fashion. Enzymes can perform such reactions by forming conformationally heterogeneous, multisubunit complexes that orchestrate electron transfer between redox cofactors coordinated at various positions in their structure. These cofactors often include oxygen-sensitive iron-sulfur clusters that require special experimental configurations to enable their study. Anaerobic SAXS of one such enzyme, Thermotoga maritima electron-transferring flavoprotein menaquinone oxidoreductase ABCX (EtfABCX), has been undertaken to understand the conformational changes associated with its electron bifurcation process (open dataset: XSDUNFBU). If anaerobic SAXS can be of use to your studies, reach out to ALS Beamline 12.3.1 Postdoc Dan Murray (email: [email protected]). Anaerobic SAXS is currently under development at ALS Beamline 12.3.1 and suggestions/inquiries are welcome.

Date: 11/22/2022

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