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Insights into protein adaptation to a saturated salt environment from the crystal structure of a halophilic 2Fe-2S ferredoxin

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 December 1996

Abstract

Haloarcula marismortui is an archaebacterium that flourishes in the world's saltiest body of water, the Dead Sea. The cytosol of this organism is a supersaturated salt solution in which proteins are soluble and active. The crystal structure of a 2Fe-2S ferredoxin from H. marismortui determined at 1.9Å is similar to those of plant-type 2Fe-2S ferredoxins of known structure, with two important distinctions. The entire surface of the protein is coated with acidic residues except for the vicinity of the iron–sulphur cluster, and there is an insertion of two amphipathic helices near the N- terminus. These form a separate hyperacidic domain whose postulated function to provide extra surface carboxylates for solvation. These data and the fact that bound surface water molecules have on the average 40% more hydrogen bonds than in a typical non-halophilic protein crystal structure support the notion that haloadaptation involves better water binding capacity.

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Frolow, F., Harell, M., Sussman, J. et al. Insights into protein adaptation to a saturated salt environment from the crystal structure of a halophilic 2Fe-2S ferredoxin. Nat Struct Mol Biol 3, 452–458 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0596-452

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