Synchrotron study shows how nitric oxide kills (science daily)

PharmaLive.com (7 December 2010) - nitric oxide is a toxic pollutant, but the human body also creates and uses to address the invasion of germs and parasites. A new study by researchers at UC Davis, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) shows how nitric oxide affects a large group of proteins critical to the survival of the cells.

A document describing the work was published in the journal of the American Chemical Society on December 6.

"This information can be used to learn more about the possible treatments for the toxicity of nitric oxide and help design new and more powerful antimicrobial agents," said the Professor Stephen Cramer of the UC Davis Department of applied science. Roasting and Hongxin Wang, a scientific project in the same Department, are co-sponsors on paper.

Using the Japan JASRI x-ray of SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility, the team investigated how nitric oxide attacks Rieske proteins, a group of proteins that contain iron-sulfur clusters. These iron-sulfur Clusters transferring electrons through proteins, a vital processes in all living organisms. Researchers have discovered that iron-sulfur clusters can be broken by nitric oxide, forming products with two irons, no single form of iron as previously thought.

It is important to understand the structure of these products because it told us exactly how iron-sulfur clusters are broken down by nitric oxide. Which helps researchers understand why is toxic and may lead to new antimicrobial based on the same mechanism.

The SPring-8 machine produces x rays are very strong and highly monochromatic or a very narrow range of wavelengths, Wang said. It is the largest synchrotron radiation facility in the world, but similar in type to the Argonne Advanced Photon Source synchrotrons in Illinois and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France.

The other sponsors on the paper are: Professor Stephen Lippard, Research Assistant Christine Tinberg, Zachary Tonzetich, postdoctoral and graduate student Act Hung Do all MIT; and researcher Yoshitaka Yoda's JASRI.

This work was funded by grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (part of the National Institutes of Health) and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Warning: this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those PharmaLive.com or its staff.

Source of the story:

The story above is reproduced (with drafting adaptations by staff at PharmaLive.com) materials provided by University of California - Davis.

Reference of the review:

Christine e. Tinberg, Zachary j. Tonzetich, Hongxin Wang, h. laws Act, Yoshitaka Yoda, Stephen P. Cramer, Stephen j. Lippard. Characterization of iron dinitrosyl malformed response with a centre of Rieske biological nitric oxide. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2010; 101206112224014 DOI: 10.1021/ja106290p

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited for this.