Characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana FRATAXIN HOMOLOG in heme catabolism

Jing Zhang; Yingying Zhou; Qianyi Duan; Xinhe Xu; Xiao Wang; Jia Wang; Lin Liu

doi:10.1016/j.biochi.2024.12.010

Characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana FRATAXIN HOMOLOG in heme catabolism

Biochimie. 2024 Dec 23:S0300-9084(24)00314-6. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2024.12.010. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jing Zhang¹, Yingying Zhou¹, Qianyi Duan¹, Xinhe Xu¹, Xiao Wang¹, Jia Wang², Lin Liu³

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui 230601, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui 230601, China. Electronic address: wangjia@ahu.edu.cn.
³ School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui 230601, China. Electronic address: liulin@ahu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39722354
DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2024.12.010

Abstract

Frataxin plays vital roles in various iron related processes. Arabidopsis thaliana FRATAXIN HOMOLOG (AtFH) is the first identified plant frataxin and has been found to regulate the last step of heme biosynthesis. Here, we report of the involvement of AtFH in heme catabolism by regulating the activity of heme oxygenase. AtFH forms a homodimer, and its crystal structure shows the dimeric interactions. A structural comparison with known frataxin structures suggests the iron binding sites, and the site for heme oxygenase activity is possibly located in a region containing Glu78. The results indicate a previously uncharacterized role of plant frataxin in heme catabolism.

Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; crystallography; frataxin; heme oxygenase.