Abstract
catalytic center of nitrous oxide reductase displays novel butterfly-shaped cluster of four copper ions [ Nat. Struct. Biol. , 7 , 191 (2000)]. discovery was made when structural biologists Christian Cambillau and Kieron Brown at the National Center for Scientific Research, Marseille, France, along with coworkers there and at New University of Lisbon, in Portugal, determined the crystal structure of the enzyme from Pseudomonas nautica . Nitrous oxide reductase reduces N 2 0 to N 2 in the last step of the bacterial denitrification pathway (NO 3 -→ NO 2 -→ NO-→ N 2 O-→ N 2 ). pathway is intrinsic to organisms that use nitrogen oxides, rather than oxygen, as electron acceptors for anaerobic respiration. Denitrification is important in agriculture and in reducing the level of N 2 O, greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is a very, very stable molecule compared with NO, Cambillau points out. The lifetime for NO is counted in seconds, whereas the residence time for N 2 O in the ...
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