Contact Information
Department of Physics525 Northwestern Avenue
West Lafayette, IN
47907-2036
Map and Directions
Telephone:
(765) 494-2970
Fax:
(765) 494-0706
Prof. Donald Kurtz
Lutcher Brown Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry, UT Health Science Center
"How Microbes Detoxify Diatomic Oxygen and Nitrogen Species: The Non-Heme Iron Reductive Paradigm"
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Monday February 21, 2011
3:30am PHYS 203
Unless otherwise noted, seminars are held on Mondays at 3:30 p.m. in Physics Room 203. Coffee served at 3:15pm in Phys 244.
http://biochem.uthscsa.edu/faculty.php?displayID=172We have defined a “non-heme iron reductive paradigm” for combating oxidative and nitrosative stress in air-sensitive bacteria and archaea (Acc. Chem. Res. 2004, 37, 902-908). This novel paradigm involves reductive scavenging of diatomic oxygen and nitrogen species by a group of non-heme iron enzymes: superoxide reductase, rubrerythrin, functioning as a H2O2 reductase, and flavodiiron protein, functioning as either a nitric oxide or dioxygen reductase. These scavenging reactions occur via novel mechanisms, which we are unraveling using rapid kinetics and spectroscopic methods as well as X-ray crystallography. A survey of the discovery and characterization of these enzymes, including recent results, as well as their biological context will be described.