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Iron-Sulfur Enzymes

Gordon Research Conference

June 8 - 13, 2008
Chair Stephen P. Cramer
Vice Chair Fraser A. Armstrong
Colby-Sawyer College
541 Main Street
New London, New Hampshire, United States
 Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

Iron-sulfur proteins are among the most common and ancient enzymes and electron-transfer agents in nature. They play key roles in photosynthesis, respiration, and the metabolism of small molecules such as H2, CO, and N2. The Iron Sulfur Enzyme Gordon Research Conference evolved from an earlier GRC on Nitrogen Fixation that began in 1994. The scope of the current meeting has broadened to include all enzymes or metalloproteins in which Fe-S bonds play a key role. This year's meeting will focus on the biosynthesis of Fe-S clusters, as well as the structure and mechanism of key Fe-S enzymes such as hydrogenase, nitrogenase and its homologues, radical SAM enzymes, and aconitase-related enzymes. Recent progress on the role of Fe-S enzymes in health, disease, DNA/RNA-processing, and alternative bio-energy systems will also be highlighted. This conference will assemble a broad, diverse, and international group of biologists and chemists who are investigating fundamental issues related to Fe-S enzymes, on atomic, molecular, organism, and environmental scales.

The topics to be addressed will include:

  • Biosynthesis & Genomics of Fe-S Enzymes
  • Fundamental Fe-S Chemistry
  • Hydrogen and Fe-S Enzymes
  • Nitrogenase & Homologous Fe-S Enzymes
  • Fe-S Enzymes in Health & Disease
  • Radical SAM and Aconitase-Related Fe-S Enzymes
  • Fe-S Enzymes and Synthetic Analogues in BioEnergy
  • Fe-S Enzymes in Geochemistry and the Origin of Life

The GRC on Iron Sulfur Enzymes conference strongly encourages presentations in the form of posters, which play a vital role in the meeting discourse. When filling out the application, please be sure to complete the poster title and abstract fields. This material will be used in selecting attendees for participation in the meeting, and space has been set aside in the program for 2-3 oral brief presentations selected from the poster sessions.

Social activities will include an outing to a Wednesday matinee at the New London Barn Playhouse, as well as the usual hiking, soccer, tennis, and water sports available at the Colby Sawyer venue.

Conference Program

SUNDAY
2:00 pm - 11:00 pmArrival and Check-in
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pmWelcome / Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff
7:40 pm - 9:30 pmFE-S ENZYMES - THEN & NOW (in memory of Helmut Beinert)
Discussion Leader: Lance Seefeldt (Utah State University)
7:40 pm - 8:05 pm Jacques Meyer (CEA - Grenoble)
"The Discovery of Fe-S Enzymes"
8:05 pm - 8:15 pm Discussion
8:15 pm - 8:40 pm Eckard Münck (Carnegie Mellon University)
"Mössbauer Spectroscopy of Fe-S Enzymes"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm Judy Hirst (MRC Cambridge)
"Structure of Mitochondrial Complex I"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm - 10:30 pm Chair's Reception / Poster Session A1
MONDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmBIOSYNTHESIS & GENOMICS OF FE-S CLUSTERS
Discussion Leader: Dennis Dean (Virginia Tech)
9:00 am - 9:35 am Roland Lill (Philipps-Universität Marburg)
"Fe-S Processing in Eukaryotes"
9:35 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45 am - 10:20 am Uli Brandt (Universität Frankfurt)
"Assembly of Fe-S Clusters in Complex I"
10:20 am - 10:30 am Discussion
10:30 am Coffee Break / Group Photo
11:00 am - 11:20 am Ina O'Carroll (Virginia Tech)
"Intermediates in Fe-S Cluster Biosynthesis"
11:20 am - 11:30 am Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am Yilin Hu (University of California - Irvine)
"Functions of NifEN"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:20 pm Luis Rubio (University of California - Berkeley)
"Mo Trafficking for Nitrogen Fixation"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session A2
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmFUNDAMENTAL FE-S CHEMISTRY
Discussion Leader: Thomas Rauchfuss (University of Illinois)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm Kazuyuki Tatsumi (Nagoya University)
"New Synthetic Routes to Fe-S Clusters"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:30 pm Abhishek Dey (Stanford University)
"What is Special About Fe-S Bonding?"
8:30 pm - 8:40 pm Discussion
8:40 pm - 9:00 pm Zach Tonzetich (MIT)
"Models for NO Reactions with Fe-S Enzymes - Metabolic Implications"
9:00 pm - 9:05 pm Discussion
9:05 pm - 9:25 pm Scott Perrin (Georgetown University)
“Fold vs. Sequence: Nature's Tuning of Fe-S Protein Reduction Potentials”
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm - 10:30 pm Poster Session A3
TUESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmHYDROGEN & FE-S ENZYMES
Discussion Leader: Paul King (NREL)
9:00 am - 9:35 am Bärbel Friedrich (Humboldt University of Berlin)
"Hydrogenase Biosynthesis and Light-Driven H2 Production"
9:35 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45am - 10:20 am John Peters (Montana State University)
"[Fe-Fe] Hydrogenase Structure, Function, & Maturation"
10:20 am - 10:30 am Discussion
10:30 am Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:35 am James Swartz (Stanford University)
"Cell-Free Synthesis, Maturation, and Evolution of [FeFe] Hydrogenase"
11:35 am - 11:45 am Discussion
11:45 am - 12:20 pm Seigo Shima (Philipps-Universität Marburg)
"Active Site Structure of [Fe] H2ase (Hmd) & Convergent Evolution of H2ases"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session B1
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmNITROGENASE & HOMOLOGOUS FE-S ENZYMES
Discussion Leader: Joseph Jarrett (University of Hawaii)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm Brian Hoffman (Northwestern)
"Towards the Mechanism of N2ase - ENDOR & EPR of Intermediates & Models"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pm Johannes Kaestner (STFC Daresbury Laboratory)
"Why is the FeMoco of nitrogenase so large? Insight from simulation"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm Robert Blankenship (Washington University - St. Louis)
"Nitrogenase Homologues in Methanogens - Evolutionary Implications"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pm Yuichi Fujita (Nagoya University)
"Nitrogenase Homologues in Chlorophyll Biosynthesis"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm - 10:30 pm Poster Session B2
WEDNESDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmFE-S ENZYMES IN HEALTH & DISEASE
Discussion Leader: Tracy Rouault (NIH Bethesda)
9:00 am - 9:35 am James Imlay (University of Illinois)
"Cellular Strategies that Protect Fe-S Clusters"
9:35 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45 am - 10:20 am Patricia Jennings (University of California - San Diego)
"Mito-NEET - An Outer Mitochondrial 2Fe-2S Protein Relevant to Type II Diabetes"
10:20 am - 10:30 am Discussion
10:30 am Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:20 am David Britt (University of California - Davis)
"Multifrequency Pulsed EPR Studies of Fe-S Proteins"
11:20 am - 11:30 am Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am Wing-Hang Tong (NIH Bethesda)
"Fe-S Enzyme Assembly & Human Disease"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:20 pm Nick LeBrun (University of East Anglia)
"Fe-S Clusters in Signal Transduction"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time / Optional Social Event: I Hate Hamlet at New London Barn Theatre
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session B3
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmFE-S ENZYMES & SYNTHETIC ANALOGUES IN BIOENERGY
Discussion Leader: Juan Fontecilla-Camps (CEA Grenoble)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm Holger Dobbek (Universität Bayreuth)
"The Ni,Fe-containing Cluster of CO Dehydrogenases"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pm Wolfgang Buckel (Philipps-Universität Marburg)
"Energy Conservation via Electron Transfer Flavoprotein and Ferredoxin in Anaerobes"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm Paul Lindahl (Texas A&M University)
"Fe-S Enzyme Studies on Intact Mitochondria"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pm Anne Jones (Arizona State University)
"Design & Synthesis of Artificial Hydrogenases"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm - 10:30 pm Poster Session C1
THURSDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 amBusiness Meeting
(Nominations for the next Vice Chair; Fill out Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss future Site & Scheduling preferences; Election of the next Vice Chair)
9:00 am - 12:30 pmACONITASE, RADICAL SAM, & RNA/DNA-RELATED ENZYMES
Discussion Leader: Joan Broderick (Montana State University)
9:00 am - 9:35 am David Graham (University of Texas at Austin)
"Function & Evolution of Methanogen Homoaconitases"
9:35 am - 9:45 am Discussion
9:45 am - 10:20 am Yvain Nicolet (CEA - Grenoble)
"Structure of the Radical SAM Protein HydE - Its Role in Maturation of [FeFe] H2ases"
10:20 am - 10:30 am Discussion
10:30 am Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:20 am Osamu Nureki (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
"Crystal Structure of Radical-SAM Enzyme Catalyzing Modified Base Formation in tRNA"
11:20 am - 11:30 am Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am Maria Spies (University of Illinois)
"Fe-S Cluster in Mechanism of Rad3 Helicases; Ancient Artifact or Means of Regulation?"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:20 pm Amie Boal (California Institute of Technology)
"Redox Signaling Between DNA Repair Proteins Containing [4Fe-4S] Clusters"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm Discussion
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session C2
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmLOOKING FORWARD (& WAY BACKWARD)
Discussion Leader: Fraser Armstrong (Oxford University)
7:30 pm - 8:00 pm Gordon Southam (University of Western Ontario)
"The Role of Bacteria in the Accumulation of Gold"
8:00 pm - 8:10 pm Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:40 pm Perry Frey (University of Wisconsin)
"Radical Initiation by the Fe-S Center in a Radical SAM Enzyme & A Retrospective ..."
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:20 pm Greg Ferry (Pennsylvania State University)
"CO Dehydrogenase and the Origin of Life"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm Discussion
9:30 pm - 10:30 pm Poster Session C3
FRIDAY
7:30 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 amDepart

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