Heme-Based Gas Sensors in Nature and Their Chemical and Biotechnological Applications

Abstract

Sensing is an essential feature of life, where many systems have been developed. Diatomic molecules such as O2, NO and CO exhibit an important role in life, which requires specialized sensors. Among the sensors discovered, heme-based gas sensors compose the largest group with at least eight different families. This large variety of proteins also exhibits many distinct ways of sensing diatomic molecules and promote a response for biological adaptation. Here, we briefly describe a story of two impressive systems of heme-based oxygen sensors, FixL from Rhizobium and DevS(DosS)/DosT from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Beyond this, we also examined many applications that have emerged. These heme-based gas sensors have been manipulated to function as chemical and biochemical analytical systems to detect small molecules (O2, CO, NO, CN−), fluorophores for imaging and bioanalysis, regulation of processes in synthetic biology and preparation of biocatalysts among others. These exciting features show the robustness of this field and multiple opportunities ahead besides the advances in the fundamental understanding of their molecular functioning.

Amino acid motifs for the identification of novel protein interactants

“…Other highly probable human H-NOX candidates participate in gene expression regulation and transport functions, while many bacterial H-NOX proteins are disease-causing bacteria, thus linking H-NOX-dependent NO sensing to diseases [145] . Besides offering mechanistic insights into cellular pathology, heme-based H-NOX gas sensors are becoming increasingly attractive not just as biological and chemical tools but also as drug targets for pharmacological use as well as for applications in cell biology and bio-catalysis [149] .…”

“…A better understanding of interactomes is also likely to uncover complex hidden mechanisms that operate at a systems level [166] , [167] . On the more applied side, insights form interactomes may address conceptual gaps in the literature and hence contribute to more effective and novel strategies for crop improvements and treatments of diseases among many other promising applications in cell biology, pharmacology, and bio-catalysis [149] , [168] , [169] , [170] , [171] .…”

Strategic report on MEMS based carbon monoxide sensor technology for environmental air quality monitoring using unmanned aerial vehicle

“…The review work was carried out by the researchers on MEMS based gas sensor using organic nano materials and carbon nano tube materials [123]. The researchers were contributed on heme-based sensors for the detection of small O 2 molecules [124]. Different types of nano-materials characteristics were reviewed by the researchers in order to design MEMS based gas detection device [125].…”

Editorial: Metalloproteins as sensors of gaseous small molecules—From bench to bed and beyond

“…The mammalian NO sensor, soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), is one representative case, where two new drugs targeting this protein, Adempas and Verquvo, were approved by FDA for cardiovascular disorders in 2013 and 2021 respectively. Besides this, many other gassensing metalloproteins have been developed as biochemical or analytical tools, novel biocatalysts or transcriptional regulators of synthetic biology pathways (Gondim et al, 2022). This Research Topic has received exciting contribution highlighting this breadth.In this Research Topic, Kitanishi presents a short review on the structural and functional role of hemerythrin-based O 2 and redox sensors found in bacteria.…”

“…Despite the remarkable number of gas-sensing metalloproteins that have been discovered, it is likely many more examples have yet been identified. Fundamental studies are still essential and many exciting applications are emerging from these systems ( Lemon and Marletta, 2021 ; Gondim et al, 2022 ). The mammalian NO sensor, soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), is one representative case, where two new drugs targeting this protein, Adempas and Verquvo, were approved by FDA for cardiovascular disorders in 2013 and 2021 respectively.…”