MOSC domains: ancient, predicted sulfur-carrier domains, present in diverse metal-sulfur cluster biosynthesis proteins including Molybdenum cofactor sulfurases

FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2002 Jan 22;207(1):55-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2002.tb11028.x.

Abstract

Using computational analysis, a novel superfamily of beta-strand-rich domains was identified in the Molybdenum cofactor sulfurase and several other proteins from both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. These MOSC domains contain an absolutely conserved cysteine and occur either as stand-alone forms such as the bacterial YiiM proteins, or fused to other domains such as a NifS-like catalytic domain in Molybdenum cofactor sulfurase. The MOSC domain is predicted to be a sulfur-carrier domain that receives sulfur abstracted by the pyridoxal phosphate-dependent NifS-like enzymes, on its conserved cysteine, and delivers it for the formation of diverse sulfur-metal clusters. The identification of this domain may clarify the mechanism of biogenesis of various metallo-enzymes including Molybdenum cofactor-containing enzymes that are compromised in human type II xanthinuria.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Carrier Proteins / chemistry*
  • Carrier Proteins / genetics
  • Carrier Proteins / metabolism*
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Eukaryotic Cells
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Prokaryotic Cells
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Sulfur / chemistry
  • Sulfur / metabolism*
  • Sulfurtransferases / chemistry*
  • Sulfurtransferases / genetics

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Carrier Proteins
  • Sulfur
  • ABA3 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Sulfurtransferases