Iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis: a much earlier origin than previously thought

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are protein cofactors that are essential for life. They are thought to have formed spontaneously before the emergence of life in an oxygen-free environment rich in iron and sulfur. They are now biosynthesized in organisms via three types of molecular machinery. It is widely believed that these machineries emerged in response to the progressive oxygenation of the Earth's atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago. But a new study proposes a very different scenario. Teams from the Institut Pasteur and the CEA-CNRS in Grenoble have identified and characterized two novel Fe-S cluster synthesis machineries which are present in several bacteria and archaea and already existed in the last universal common ancestor (LUCA).

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