ROLE OF FERREDOXIN IN THE METABOLISM OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN

Abstract

Valentine , R. C. (University of Illinois, Urbana) and R. S. Wolfe . Role of ferredoxin in the metabolism of molecular hydrogen. J. Bacteriol. 85: 1114–1120. 1963.—The metabolism of molecular hydrogen by Clostridium pasteurianum, Micrococcus lactilyticus ( Veillonella alcalescens ), and several other anaerobic bacteria was studied. Oxidation of hydrogen, using several electron-accepting substrates including triphosphopyridine nucleotide, uric acid, xanthine, nitrite, and hydroxylamine, required ferredoxin in conjunction with hydrogenase. Evolution of hydrogen from pyruvate, α-ketoglutarate, hypoxanthine, and dithionite was mediated by ferredoxin. On the basis of these findings, a unitary hypothesis for biological hydrogen evolution is proposed in which ferredoxin plays a key role.