Structural aspects of iron-sulfur protein biogenesis: An NMR view

Over the last decade, structural aspects involving iron-sulfur (Fe/S) protein biogenesis have played an increasingly important role in understanding the high mechanistic complexity of mitochondrial and cytosolic machineries maturing Fe/S proteins. In this respect, solution NMR has had a significant impact because of its ability to monitor transient protein-protein interactions, which are abundant in the networks of pathways leading to Fe/S cluster biosynthesis and transfer, as well as thanks to the developments of paramagnetic NMR in both terms of new methodologies and accurate data interpretation. Here, we review the use of solution NMR in characterizing the structural aspects of human Fe/S proteins and their interactions in the framework of Fe/S protein biogenesis. We will first present a summary of the recent advances that have been achieved by paramagnetic NMR and then we will focus our attention on the role of solution NMR in the field of human Fe/S protein biogenesis.