US EPA

4839951 

Journal Article 

Review 

Iron cofactor assembly in plants 

Balk, J; Schaedler, TA 

2014 

Yes 

Annual Review of Plant Biology
ISSN: 1543-5008
EISSN: 1545-2123 

65 

125-153 

English 

24498975 

10.1146/annurev-arplant-050213-035759 

WOS:000340193000007 

Iron is an essential element for all photosynthetic organisms. The biological use of this transition metal is as an enzyme cofactor, predominantly in electron transfer and catalysis. The main forms of iron cofactor are, in order of decreasing abundance, iron-sulfur clusters, heme, and di-iron or mononuclear iron, with a wide functional range. In plants and algae, iron-sulfur cluster assembly pathways of bacterial origin are localized in the mitochondria and plastids, where there is a high demand for these cofactors. A third iron-sulfur cluster assembly pathway is present in the cytosol that depends on the mitochondria but not on plastid assembly proteins. The biosynthesis of heme takes place mainly in the plastids. The importance of iron-sulfur cofactors beyond photosynthesis and respiration has become evident with recent discoveries of novel iron-sulfur proteins involved in epigenetics and DNA metabolism. In addition, increased understanding of intracellular iron trafficking is opening up research into how iron is distributed between iron cofactor assembly pathways and how this distribution is regulated.