A tribute to sulfur
Abstract
Recent progress in a number of areas of biochemistry and biology has drawn attention to the critical importance of sulfur in the biosynthesis of vital cofactors and active sites in proteins, and in the complex reaction mechanisms often involved. This brief review is intended as a broad overview of this currently rapidly moving field of sulfur biochemistry, for those who are interested or are involved in one or the other aspect of it, a synopsis by one who has stumbled into this field from several directions in the course of time. Only for iron are metal–sulfur relationships discussed in detail, as the iron–sulfur subfield is one of the most active areas.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Because sulfur can exist in several different oxidation states, sulfur compounds are metabolically abundant and are a major energy source for microbes.
“Because S can exist in several different oxidation states, sulfur compounds are metabolically abundant and are a major energy source for microbes (Beinert, 2000; Sekowska et al., 2000).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Beinert, 2000
Cites
Iron-sulfur clusters: nature's modular, multipurpose structures
Beinert, H., Holm, R. H., & Münck, E. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.277.5326.653 · Cited by 1,944 · see citing works
Self-citationAconitase as iron–sulfur protein, enzyme, and iron-regulatory protein
Beinert, H., Kennedy, M. C., & Stout, C. D. (1996) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr950040z · Cited by 606 · cited 1× · see citing works
“and MoÈssbauer spectroscopy and crystal structures [21,63].”
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Serpentinization as a source of energy at the origin of life
RUSSELL, M. J., HALL, A. J., & MARTIN, W. (2010) · Geobiology · doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2010.00249.x · Cited by 527 · see citing works
Chemical foundations of hydrogen sulfide biology
Li, Q., & Lancaster, J. R. (2013) · Nitric Oxide · doi:10.1016/j.niox.2013.07.001 · Cited by 334 · see citing works
The Drive to Life on Wet and Icy Worlds
Russell, M. J., Barge, L. M., Bhartia, R., Bocanegra, D., Bracher, P. J., Branscomb, E., Kidd, R., McGlynn, S., Meier, D. H., Nitschke, W., et al. (2014) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2013.1110 · Cited by 288 · see citing works
“Coenzyme A itself is a thiol, and life has taken full advantage of the fact that sulfur is equally at home ligated to the transition metals as it is bound to carbon and with itself (Beinert, 2000a, 2000b).”
Mammalian iron-sulphur proteins: novel insights into biogenesis and function
Rouault, T. A. (2015) · Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/nrm3909 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Adamala, K., Arina de la Rubia, L., Bond, J., Dartnell, L. R., Goldman, A. D., Lynch, K., et al. (2016) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1460 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
“Because S can exist in several different oxidation states, sulfur compounds are metabolically abundant and are a major energy source for microbes (Beinert, 2000; Sekowska et al., 2000).”
- Authors
- Beinert, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Beinert, Helmut
- Venue
- European Journal of Biochemistry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2000-09
- Volume
- 267
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 5657-5664
- ISSN
- 0014-2956 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-1033
- OpenAlex
- W2109186010
- Cited by
- 159
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 0.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Journal of Biochemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Metalloenzymes and iron-sulfur proteins
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biochemistry › Sulfur Compounds in Biology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nitrogen and Sulfur Effects on Brassica
- Keywords
- active site, metal-sulfur clusters, iron-sulfur proteins, cofactor biosynthesis
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Bacteria, Binding Sites, Humans, Iron, Models, Chemical, Protein Binding, Sulfur, Yeasts
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
