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Updated: Oct 25, 2025

Examining Proteasome Assembly with Recombinant Archaeal Proteasomes and Nondenaturing PAGE: The Case for a Combined Approach
Published on: December 17, 2016
The reductive carboxylation activity of heterotetrameric pyruvate synthases from hyperthermophilic archaea
Lu Xiao1, Guoxia Liu2, Fuyu Gong2
1CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Abstract:
Pyruvate synthase (pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase, PFOR) catalyzes the interconversion of acetyl-CoA and pyruvate, but the reductive carboxylation activities of heterotetrameric PFORs remain largely unknown. In this study, we cloned, expressed, and purified selected six heterotetrameric PFORs from hyperthermophilic archaea. The reductive carboxylation activities of these heterotetrameric PFORs were measured at 70 °C and the ratio of reductive carboxylation activity to oxidative decarboxylation activity (red/ox ratio) were calculated. Four out of six showed reductive decarboxylation activities. Among them, the PFORpfm from Pyrolobus fumarii showed the highest reductive carboxylation activities and the highest red/ox ratio, which were 54.32 mU/mg and 0.51, respectively. The divergence of the reductive carboxylation activities and the red/ox ratios of heterotetrameric PFORs in hyperthermophilic archaea indicate the diversity of the functions of PFOR over long-term evolution. This can help us better understand the autotrophic CO2 fixation process in thermal vent, or in other CO2-rich high temperature habitat.
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