Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is an autosomal recessive degenerative disease caused by insufficient expression of frataxin (FXN), a mitochondrial iron-binding protein required for Fe-S cluster assembly. The development of treatments to increase FXN levels in FRDA requires elucidation of the steps involved in the biogenesis of functional FXN. The FXN mRNA is translated to a precursor polypeptide that is transported to the mitochondrial matrix and processed to at least two forms, FXN Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) 2 (OMIM number 229300) is an autosomal recessive disease with an estimated incidence of 1:40,000. Most FRDA patients are apparently healthy at birth and during the first 5-10 years of life; then their gait becomes increasingly unsteady and wide-based and their voluntary movements uncoordinated. Many patients develop hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as well as diabetes, muscle weakness, and skeletal deformities. Although cognitive functions remain largely intact during disease progression, patients develop significant communication difficulties due to dysarthria, which is often compounded by vision and hearing loss. The majority of patients eventually become wheelchair-bound and dependent on others for most daily activities. Cardiac failure is a frequent cause of death at a young age (1).The FRDA locus encodes a mitochondrial protein designated frataxin (FXN), which is expressed at much lower levels in FRDA patients compared with normal individuals (2). In most patients, FXN deficiency results from the presence of an expanded GAA repeat in the first intron of the FRDA gene (2) that causes transcriptional silencing (reviewed in Ref.3). Although FXN is ubiquitously expressed, certain cells (dorsal root ganglia neurons, cardiomyocytes, and pancreatic beta cells) are exquisitely sensitive to frataxin depletion, and the degenerative loss of these particular cells accounts for the major clinical aspects of FRDA (1).Extensive biochemical studies have shown that frataxins across species are conserved iron-binding proteins that can either provide iron for Fe-S cluster assembly and heme synthesis or store iron as a stable mineral (reviewed in Ref. 4). The loss of these properties accounts for impaired iron utilization and increased iron toxicity linked to frataxin deficiency in the mitochondria of such diverse organisms as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Drosophila, mouse, and humans (5-8). In humans, the mitochondrial alterations caused by FXN deficiency lead to tissue-specific changes in various cellular pathways involved in antioxidant, metabolic, and inflammatory responses, thereby amplifying the pathophysiology of FRDA and promoting disease progression (9 -13).
Mitochondrial biosynthesis of iron-sulfur clusters (ISCs) is a vital process involving the delivery of elemental iron and sulfur to a scaffold protein via molecular interactions that are still poorly defined. Analysis of highly conserved components of the yeast ISC assembly machinery shows that the iron-chaperone, Yfh1, and the sulfur-donor complex, Nfs1-Isd11, directly bind to each other. This interaction is mediated by direct Yfh1-Isd11 contacts. Moreover, both Yfh1 and Nfs1-Isd11 can directly bind to the scaffold, Isu1. Binding of Yfh1 to Nfs1-Isd11 or Isu1 requires oligomerization of Yfh1 and can occur in an iron-independent manner. However, more stable contacts are formed when Yfh1 oligomerization is normally coupled with the binding and oxidation of Fe 2؉ . Our observations challenge the view that iron delivery for ISC synthesis is mediated by Fe 2؉ -loaded monomeric Yfh1. Rather, we find that the iron oxidation-driven oligomerization of Yfh1 promotes the assembly of stable multicomponent complexes in which the iron donor and the sulfur donor simultaneously interact with each other as well as with the scaffold. Moreover, the ability to store ferric iron enables oligomeric Yfh1 to adjust iron release depending on the presence of Isu1 and the availability of elemental sulfur and reducing equivalents. In contrast, the use of anaerobic conditions that prevent Yfh1 oligomerization results in inhibition of ISC assembly on Isu1. These findings suggest that iron-dependent oligomerization is a mechanism by which the iron donor promotes assembly of the core machinery for mitochondrial ISC synthesis.
Defects in frataxin result in Friedreich ataxia, a genetic disease characterized by early onset of neurodegeneration, cardiomyopathy, and diabetes. Frataxin is a conserved mitochondrial protein that controls iron needed for iron-sulfur cluster assembly and heme synthesis and also detoxifies excess iron. Studies in vitro have shown that either monomeric or oligomeric frataxin delivers iron to other proteins, whereas ferritin-like frataxin particles convert redox-active iron to an inert mineral. We have investigated how these different forms of frataxin are regulated in vivo. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, only monomeric yeast frataxin (Yfh1) was detected in unstressed cells when mitochondrial iron uptake was maintained at a steady, low nanomolar level. Increments in mitochondrial iron uptake induced stepwise assembly of Yfh1 species ranging from trimer to >24-mer, independent of interactions between Yfh1 and its major ironbinding partners, Isu1/Nfs1 or aconitase. The rate-limiting step in Yfh1 assembly was a structural transition that preceded conversion of monomer to trimer. This step was induced, independently or synergistically, by mitochondrial iron increments, overexpression of wild type Yfh1 monomer, mutations that stabilize Yfh1 trimer, or heat stress. Faster assembly kinetics correlated with reduced oxidative damage and higher levels of aconitase activity, respiratory capacity, and cell survival. However, deregulation of Yfh1 assembly resulted in Yfh1 aggregation, aconitase sequestration, and mitochondrial DNA depletion. The data suggest that Yfh1 assembly responds to dynamic changes in mitochondrial iron uptake or stress exposure in a highly controlled fashion and that this may enable frataxin to simultaneously promote respiratory function and stress tolerance.
Fe-S clusters, essential cofactors needed for the activity of many different enzymes, are assembled by conserved protein machineries inside bacteria and mitochondria. As the architecture of the human machinery remains undefined, we co-expressed in Escherichia coli the following four proteins involved in the initial step of Fe-S cluster synthesis:
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