NRVS of FeS cluster proteins & models - A bestiary of nifty normal modes

Iron‑sulfur clusters are the primordial prosthetic groups for living systems, and they have even been proposed as partly responsible for the origin of life. They play a role in essential biological processes such as electron transfer, enzyme catalysis, DNA replication and repair, small molecule sensing, iron homeostasis, apoptosis, and human health and disease. They have frequently been studied by resonance Raman, electron paramagnetic resonance, and Mössbauer spectroscopies. Over the past two decades, we have used a synchrotron method called Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy (NRVS) to examine the vibrational dynamics of a wide variety of FeS clusters in model systems and native proteins, ranging in complexity from single Fe sites in small rubredoxins to the [7Fe-9S-C-Mo-R-homocitrate] cluster in nitrogenases.