Destruction and reformation of an iron-sulfur cluster during catalysis by lipoyl synthase

Refueling an enzyme Lipoic acid is an eight-carbon fatty acid in which sulfur groups are appended on two carbon atoms by the enzyme lipoyl synthase (LipA). LipA provides the sulfurs from an auxiliary [4Fe-4S] cluster. McCarthy and Booker show that in Escherichia coli , the auxiliary LipA cluster is reconstituted by the iron-sulfur cluster carrier protein NfuA (see the Perspective by Rosenzweig). This occurs fast enough that LipA can act catalytically in the final step of lipoic acid biosynthesis. Science , this issue p. 373 ; see also p. 307