Duplications of an iron–sulphur tripeptide leads to the formation of a protoferredoxin

Abstract

Based on UV-Vis, NMR, and EPR spectroscopies and DFT and molecular dynamics calculations, a model prebiotic [2Fe-2S] tripeptide was shown to accept and donate electrons. Duplications of the tripeptide sequence led to a protoferredoxin with increased stability. Duplications of primitive peptides may have contributed to the formation of contemporary ferredoxins.