EXAFS of Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogenase MoFe protein from wild-type and nif V mutant strains

The enzyme nitrogenase catalyzes the biological reduction of N/sub 2/ to NH/sub 3/. In Klebsiella pneumoniae a cluster of 17 genes in seven transcriptional units has been associated with nitrogen fixation. The nitrogenase enzyme from the nif V mutants is relatively ineffective at dinitrogen reduction, is more efficient than the wild-type enzyme at HCN reduction, and has its hydrogen evolution activity inhibited up to 80% by CO. This altered substrate specificity has been shown to be associated with the iron-molybdenum cofactor, FeMo-co, of the enzyme. X-ray absorption spectroscopy has been a valuable tool for probing the molybdenum environment of wild-type nitrogenase, and the authors report here similar studies on the Nif V/sup -/ enzyme.