Cytoplasmic sulfur trafficking in sulfur-oxidizing prokaryotes

Persulfide groups are chemically versatile and participate in a wide array of biochemical pathways. Although it is well documented that persulfurated proteins supply a number of important and elaborate biosynthetic pathways with sulfane sulfur, it is far less acknowledged that the enzymatic generation of persulfidic sulfur, the successive transfer of sulfur as a persulfide between multiple proteins, and the oxidation of sulfane sulfur in protein-bound form are also essential steps during dissimilatory sulfur oxidation in bacteria and archaea. Here, the currently available information on sulfur trafficking in sulfur oxidizing prokaryotes is reviewed, and the idea is discussed that sulfur is always presented to cytoplasmic oxidizing enzymes in a protein-bound form, thus preventing the occurrence of free sulfide inside of the prokaryotic cell. Thus, sulfur trafficking emerges as a central element in sulfur-oxidizing pathways, and TusA homologous proteins appear to be central and common elements in these processes.