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Electron Transferases

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Flavins and Flavoproteins

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1146))

Abstract

The flavin isoalloxazine ring in electron transferases functions in a redox capacity, being able to take up electrons from a donor to subsequently deliver them to an acceptor. The main characteristics of these flavoproteins, including their unique ability to mediate obligatory processes of two-electron transfers with those involving single-electron transfer, are here described. To illustrate the versatility of these proteins, the acquired knowledge of the function of the two electron transferases involved in the cyanobacterial photosynthetic electron transfer from photosystem I to NADP+ is presented. Many aspects of their biochemistry and biophysics have been extensively characterized using site-directed mutagenesis, steady-state and transient kinetics, spectroscopy, calorimetry, X-ray crystallography, electron paramagnetic resonance, and computational methods.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Grant BIO2010-1493.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology, Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems, Zaragoza, Spain

    Patricia Ferreira & Marta Martínez-Júlvez

  2. University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Milagros Medina

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  1. Patricia Ferreira
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  2. Marta Martínez-Júlvez
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  3. Milagros Medina
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Correspondence to Milagros Medina .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany

    Stefan Weber

  2. Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany

    Erik Schleicher

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Ferreira, P., Martínez-Júlvez, M., Medina, M. (2014). Electron Transferases. In: Weber, S., Schleicher, E. (eds) Flavins and Flavoproteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1146. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0452-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0452-5_5

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