Discovery of superoxide reductase: an historical perspective

TL;DR

This paper reviews the discovery and historical development of superoxide reductase (SOR), an enzyme that reduces superoxide in certain bacteria, challenging the previously dominant role of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in oxidative stress defense.

Contribution

It presents the historical perspective and experimental evidence for superoxide reductase as a novel enzymatic mechanism in oxidative stress defense.

Findings

Superoxide reductase (SOR) reduces superoxide in some bacteria.

SOR represents a new paradigm in oxidative stress defense.

Experimental validation of SOR's role in superoxide elimination.

Abstract

For more than 30 years, the only enzymatic system known to catalyze the elimination of superoxide was superoxide dismutase, SOD. SOD has been found in almost all organisms living in the presence of oxygen, including some anaerobic bacteria, supporting the notion that superoxide is a key and general component of oxidative stress. Recently, a new concept in the field of the mechanisms of cellular defense against superoxide has emerged. It was discovered that elimination of superoxide in some anaerobic and microaerophilic bacteria could occur by reduction, a reaction catalyzed by a small metalloenzyme thus named superoxide reductase, SOR. Having played a major role in this discovery, we describe here how the concept of superoxide reduction emerged and how it was experimentally substantiated independently in our laboratory.