Resumo

FRANCO BODEK, Daniela  e  CASTILLO BLUM, Silvia E.. Ferredoxins. Educ. quím [online]. 2013, vol.24, n.4, pp.426-430. ISSN 0187-893X.

Ferredoxins are soluble proteins that contain iron-sulfur clusters and have low redox potentials. They are present in bacteria, plants, algae and animals and function as electron carriers both in respiration and photosynthesis; and are found as: Type [2Fe-2S], Type [4Fe-4S] and Type [3Fe-4S]. Their ubiquitous presence especially in ancestral organisms has led to the idea that Fe-S proteins are very old proteins that appeared in early stages of evolution. They form a particularly versatile and useful, as well as modular and simple group of metalloproteins that achieve a vast number of functions. Here the characteristics of the different types of ferredoxins and their biological functions are discussed, together with an overview of the spectro-scopic techniques employed for their study. Additionally, the result of kinetic studies of ferre-doxins and inorganic compounds to learn about the reaction mechanisms are included.

Palavras-chave : ferredoxins; spectroscopy; functions; kinetic studies.