Evolutionary relationships between heme-binding ferredoxin α + β barrels

BACKGROUND: The α + β barrel superfamily of the ferredoxin-like fold consists of a functionally diverse group of evolutionarily related proteins. The barrel architecture of these proteins is formed by either homo-/hetero-dimerization or duplication and fusion of ferredoxin-like domains. Several members of this superfamily bind heme in order to carry out their functions. RESULTS: We analyze the heme-binding sites in these proteins as well as their barrel topologies. Our comparative structural analysis of these heme-binding barrels reveals two distinct modes of packing of the ferredoxin-like domains to constitute the α + β barrel, which is typified by the Type-1/IsdG-like and Type-2/OxdA-like proteins, respectively. We examine the heme-binding pockets and explore the versatility of the α + β barrels ability to accommodate heme or heme-related moieties, such as siroheme, in at least three different sites, namely, the mode seen in IsdG/OxdA, Cld/DyP/EfeB/HemQ and siroheme decarboxylase barrels. CONCLUSIONS: Our study offers insights into the plausible evolutionary relationships between the two distinct barrel packing topologies and relate the observed heme-binding sites to these topologies. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-016-1033-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.