Nitrosylation of Nitric-Oxide-Sensing Regulatory Proteins Containing [4Fe-4S] Clusters Gives Rise to Multiple Iron-Nitrosyl Complexes

The reaction of protein-bound iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters with nitric oxide (NO) plays key roles in NO-mediated toxicity and signaling. Elucidation of the mechanism of the reaction of NO with DNA regulatory proteins that contain Fe-S clusters has been hampered by a lack of information about the nature of the iron-nitrosyl products formed. Herein, we report nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations that identify NO reaction products in WhiD and NsrR, regulatory proteins that use a [4Fe-4S] cluster to sense NO. This work reveals that nitrosylation yields multiple products structurally related to Roussin's Red Ester (RRE, [Fe₂ (NO)₄ (Cys)₂ ]) and Roussin's Black Salt (RBS, [Fe₄ (NO)₇ S₃ ]. In the latter case, the absence of ³² S/³⁴ S shifts in the Fe-S region of the NRVS spectra suggest that a new species, Roussin's Black Ester (RBE), may be formed, in which one or more of the sulfide ligands is replaced by Cys thiolates.