Two novel monothiol glutaredoxins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae provide further insight into iron-sulfur cluster binding, oligomerization, and enzymatic activity of glutaredoxins.

Two novel monothiol glutaredoxins from yeast (ScGrx6 and ScGrx7) were identified and analyzed in vitro. Both proteins are highly suited to study structure-function relationships of glutaredoxin subclasses because they differ from all monothiol glutaredoxins investigated so far and share features with dithiol glutaredoxins. ScGrx6 and ScGrx7 are, for example, the first monothiol glutaredoxins showing an activity in the standard glutaredoxin transhydrogenase assay with glutathione and bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)-disulfide. Steady-state kinetics of ScGrx7 with glutathione and cysteine-glutathione disulfide are similar to dithiol glutaredoxins and are consistent with a ping-pong mechanism. In contrast to most other glutaredoxins, ScGrx7 and ScGrx6 are able to dimerize noncovalently. Furthermore, ScGrx6 is the first monothiol glutaredoxin shown to directly bind an iron-sulfur cluster. The cluster can be stabilized by reduced glutathione, and its loss results in the conversion of tetramers to dimers. ScGrx7 does not bind metal ions but can be covalently modified in Escherichia coli leading to a mass shift of 1090 +/- 14 Da. What might be the structural requirements that cause the different properties? We hypothesize that a G(S/T)x3 insertion between a highly conserved lysine residue and the active site cysteine residue could be responsible for the abrogated transhydrogenase activity of many monothiol glutaredoxins. In addition, we suggest an active site motif without proline residues that could lead to the identification of further metal binding glutaredoxins. Such different properties presumably reflect diverse functions in vivo and might therefore explain why there are at least seven glutaredoxins in yeast.