CO dehydrogenase from the aerobic bacterium Oligotropha carboxidovorans catalyzes the oxidation of CO with H 2 O, yielding CO 2 , two electrons, and two H ؉ . Its crystal structure in the air-oxidized form has been determined to 2.2 Å. The active site of the enzyme, which contains molybdenum with three oxygen ligands, molybdopterincytosine dinucleotide and S-selanylcysteine, delivers the electrons to an intramolecular electron transport chain composed of two types of [2Fe-2S] clusters and f lavin-adenine dinucleotide. CO dehydrogenase is composed of an 88.7-kDa molybdoprotein (L), a 30.2-kDa f lavoprotein (M), and a 17.8-kDa iron-sulfur protein (S). It is organized as a dimer of LMS heterotrimers and resembles xanthine dehydrogenase/oxidase in many, but not all, aspects. A mechanism based on a structure with the bound suicide-substrate cyanide is suggested and displays the necessity of S-selanylcysteine for the catalyzed reaction.CO is a trace gas and important scavenger for hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere. About one fifth of CO [115-230 Tg⅐yr
Ϫ1(1)] is used by soil microorganisms (2, 3). CO has a short lifetime within the soil, and consumption of atmospheric CO occurs mainly in the top few centimeters of the humus layer (O horizon), most likely under aerobic conditions. Under aerobic conditions, CO can be used as the sole source of carbon and energy by the carboxidotrophic bacteria, which comprise a taxonomically diverse group of obligate or facultative chemolithoautotrophic species (3, 4). Under anaerobic conditions, CO is used with low affinity by a number of methanogenic archaea and acetogenic, sulfate-reducing, or phototrophic bacteria (3, 5). Generally, anaerobic CO dehydrogenases are nickel-containing [4Fe-4S] proteins. CO dehydrogenases of methanogens or acetogens have acetyl-CoA synthetase activity. CO dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.99.2) of the carboxidotrophic bacterium Oligotropha carboxidovorans is a molybdenum-containing iron-sulfur flavoprotein that catalyzes the oxidation of CO (CO ϩ H 2 O 3 CO 2 ϩ 2e Ϫ ϩ 2H ϩ ) and generates a proton gradient across the cytoplasmic membrane by channeling the electrons formed via cytochrome b 561 into a CO-insensitive respiratory chain (4). O. carboxidovorans uses the reactions of the Calvin cycle for CO 2 fixation (4). In the exponential growth phase, cells of O. carboxidovorans have 87% of CO dehydrogenase associated with the inner aspect of the cytoplasmic membrane and 13% located in the cytoplasm (6).CO dehydrogenase is composed of the 88.7-kDa L (809 residues), 30.2-kDa M (288 residues), and 17.8-kDa S (166 residues) subunits and exists as a dimer of LMS heterotrimers (4). The L subunit carries the molybdenum cofactor, which is a mononuclear complex of Mo and molybdopterin-cytosine dinucleotide (MCD) (7). FAD-binding is on the M subunit and requires conformational changes of M introduced through the binding of M to LS (unpublished data). The S subunit harbors two [2Fe-2S] centers, which are proximal and distal, respectively, to the molybdenum center. They...