X-ray absorption of Azotobacter vinelandii vanadium nitrogenase

Evidence for the existence of a vanadium-containing nitrogenase has existed for more than half a century, but progress in understanding this enzyme has only come recently. In 1980, Bishop and co-workers proposed that an alternative nitrogen-fixing enzyme exists in Azotobacter vinelandii and subsequently proposed that vanadium was involved. In 1986, Robson et al. demonstrated clearly that the alternate nitrogenase from Azotobacter chroococcum, Acl*, contained vanadium instead of molybdenum. Hales et al. have shown the vanadium is also found in the Azotobacter vinelandii alternative component I, Avl'. The molybdenum and vanadium nitrogenase proteins are similar in many respects. Like the molybdenum enzyme, both Acl* and Avl' exhibit an EPR spectrum characteristic of a species with an S = 3/2 ground state; Avl' also contains the so-called P-clusters. Additionally Acl* has recently been shown to possess an N-methylformamide soluble cofactor, FeVco, analogous to the well-known iron-molybdenum cofactor FeMoco. Arber et al. have reported X-ray absorption spectra for the Acl* enzyme and interpreted the EXAFS as evidence for a V-Fe-S cluster. The local vanadium structure is proposed to resemble a recently synthesized cubane-like VFe3S4 cluster, and analogies are drawn with the EXAFS-derived structure reported for the molybdenum nitrogenases. The authors report herein an X-ray absorption spectroscopic study of A. vinelandii vanadium nitrogenase, Avl', which supports and extends the work of Arber et al