Abstract
Flavoproteins are ubiquitous redox proteins that are involved in many
biological processes. In the majority of flavoproteins, the flavin
cofactor is tightly but noncovalently bound. Reversible dissociation
of flavoproteins into apoprotein and flavin prosthetic group yields
valuable insights in flavoprotein folding, function and mechanism.
Replacement of the natural cofactor with artificial flavins has
proved to be especially useful for the determination of the solvent
accessibility, polarity, reaction stereochemistry and dynamic behaviour
of flavoprotein active sites. In this review we summarize the advances
made in the field of flavoprotein deflavination and reconstitution.
Several sophisticated chromatographic procedures to either deflavinate
or reconstitute the flavoprotein on a large scale are discussed.
In a subset of flavoproteins, the flavin cofactor is covalently
attached to the polypeptide chain. Studies from riboflavin-deficient
expression systems and site-directed mutagenesis suggest that the
flavinylation reaction is a post-translational, rather than a cotranslational,
process. These genetic approaches have also provided insight into
the mechanism of covalent flavinylation and the rationale for this
atypical protein modification.
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