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Nitrogen Fixation, a Molybdenum-Requiring Process

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Molybdenum Cofactors and Their role in the Evolution of Metabolic Pathways

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science ((SB BIOMETALS))

Abstract

Nitrogen fixation is the most important input of biologically available nitrogen in Earth’s ecosystems and is a metabolic ability possessed only by some Prokaryotes. To date four classes of nitrogenase enzymes have been characterized. Three nitrogenases are homologous enzymes with similar protein subunit composition and metal cofactor structure; these are the Mo-nitrogenase, V-nitrogenase, and Fe-only nitrogenase. How these three systems evolved and which of them first appeared on Earth is still under debate. The best studied system is the Fe-Mo-co based although several comparative analyses have been performed in past years.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Luana Presta, Marco Fondi & Renato Fani

  2. Trees and Timber Institute National Research Council, IVALSA-CNR, Trento, Italy

    Giovanni Emiliani

Authors
  1. Luana Presta
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  2. Marco Fondi
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  3. Giovanni Emiliani
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  4. Renato Fani
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Correspondence to Luana Presta .

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Presta, L., Fondi, M., Emiliani, G., Fani, R. (2015). Nitrogen Fixation, a Molybdenum-Requiring Process. In: Molybdenum Cofactors and Their role in the Evolution of Metabolic Pathways. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(). Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9972-0_5

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