The crystal structure of the extracellular 11-heme cytochrome UndA reveals a conserved 10-heme motif and defined binding site for soluble iron chelates

Marcus J. Edwards, Andrea Hall, Liang Shi, James K. Fredrickson, John M. Zachara, Julea N. Butt, David J. Richardson, Thomas A. Clarke

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Members of the genus Shewanella translocate deca- or undeca-heme cytochromes to the external cell surface thus enabling respiration using extracellular minerals and polynuclear Fe(III) chelates. The high resolution structure of the first undeca-heme outer membrane cytochrome, UndA, reveals a crossed heme chain with four potential electron ingress/egress sites arranged within four domains. Sequence and structural alignment of UndA and the deca-heme MtrF reveals the extra heme of UndA is inserted between MtrF hemes 6 and 7. The remaining UndA hemes can be superposed over the heme chain of the decaheme MtrF, suggesting that a ten heme core is conserved between outer membrane cytochromes. The UndA structure has also been crystallographically resolved in complex with substrates, an Fe(III)-nitrilotriacetate dimer or an Fe(III)-citrate trimer. The structural resolution of these UndA-Fe(III)-chelate complexes provides a rationale for previous kinetic measurements on UndA and other outer membrane cytochromes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1275-1284
Number of pages10
JournalStructure
Volume20
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2012

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