Luis Manuel Rubio Herrero - Selected Publications#

H-index 30 (GS) . 68 publications in Web of Science. 2049 citations

1) Exploiting genetic diversity and gene synthesis to identify superior nitrogenase NifH protein variants to engineer N2-fixation in plants. Jiang X, Payá-Tormo L, Coroian D, García-Rubio I, Castellanos-Rueda R, Eseverri Á, López-Torrejón G, Burén S, Rubio LM. Commun Biol 2021 4:4.

We developed a pipeline to select the most productive variants of one nitrogenase component. This technical advance will be used to select all other needed components. JCR Impact: 6.27. Citations: 4.

2) López-Torrejón G, Burén S, Veldhuizen M, Rubio LM. 2021. Biosynthesis of cofactor-activatable iron-only nitrogenase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Microbial Biotech 14: 1073-1083.

Here we showed the expression of stable Fe-only nitrogenase component proteins in yeast mitochondria. This work reinforces the use of Fe-only nitrogenase as simple model to engineer nitrogen fixation in yeast and plants. JCR Impact: 5.81. Citations: 2.
3) Fajardo AS, Legrand P, Payá-Tormo LA, Martin L, Pellicer MT, Echavarri-Erasun C, Vernède X, Rubio LM, Nicolet Y (2020) Structural Insights into the Mechanism of the Radical SAM Carbide Synthase NifB, a Key Nitrogenase Cofactor Maturating Enzyme. J Am Chem Soc. 142: 11006-11012.

NifB catalyzes one of the most fascinating reactions in bioinorganic chemistry and is crucial to assemble the metal cofactor of nitrogenase. Here we provided the first 3D atomic structure of NifB. JCR Impact: 15.42. Citations: 8. Altmetrics: 4.

4) Burén S, Jiménez-Vicente E, Echavarri-Erasun C, Rubio LM (2020) Biosynthesis of Nitrogenase Cofactors. Chem Rev 120: 4921-4968.

Comprehensive and critical review of last 40-years discoveries about the structure, function, and biosynthesis of nitrogenase cofactors, highlighting areas most relevant to nitrogenase bioengineering in plants and yeast. Chemical Reviews is the most prestigious magazine in chemistry and has a very wide audience. JCR Impact: 60.62. Citations: 34. Altmetrics: 7.

5) Burén S, Pratt K, Jiang X, Guo Y, Jimenez-Vicente E, Echavarri-Erasun C, Dean DR, Saaem I, Gordon DB, Voigt CA, Rubio LM (2019) Biosynthesis of the nitrogenase active-site cofactor precursor NifB-co in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 116: 25078-25086.

This study achieves a critical step to obtain functional nitrogenase in plants. A unique metal cluster precursor of the nitrogenase cofactor is assembled for the first time in a eukaryotic cell. Included in Nature Index of Excellence. Commented in Plantae Blog (29-11-2019) by Mary Williams, Editor of The Plant Cell. Resulted in USA patent US10941428B2. JCR Impact: 9.41. Citations: 12. Altmetrics: 48.

6) Burén S, López-Torrejón G, Rubio LM. 2018. Extreme bioengineering to meet the nitrogen challenge. Proc Nat Acad Sci U S A. 115:8849-8851.

I was invited by a PNAS editor to write a commentary highlighting an impressive report from Yi-Ping Wang and collaborators on synthetic polyprotein design and production. JCR Impact: 9.58. Citations: 10. Altmetrics: 46.

7) Burén S, Young EM, Sweeny EA, Lopez-Torrejón G, Veldhuizen M, Voigt CA, Rubio LM (2017) Formation of Nitrogenase NifDK Tetramers in the Mitochondria of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. ACS Synth Biol 6: 1043-1055.

This work shows partial assembly of nitrogenase MoFe protein in yeast mitochondria. Included by the Royal Society of Biology in "The Big Biology Breakthroughs of 2017”. JCR Impact: 5.32. Citations: 37. Altmetrics: 42.

8) Lopez-Torrejon G, Jiménez-Vicente E, Buesa-Galiano JM, Verma HK, Rubio LM (2016) Expression of a functional oxygen-labile nitrogenase component in the mitochondrial matrix of aerobically grown yeast. Nat Commun 7: 11426.

This work was a milestone in eukaryotic nitrogenase bioengineering by providing proof of concept for the validity of mitochondria to assemble nitrogenase. Commented in “The nitrogen fix” Science 353: 1225, and “Toward nitrogen-fixing plants” Science 359: 869.Resulted in European patent EP3044312B1. JCR Impact: 12.12. Citations: 61. Altmetrics: 35.

9) Hernandez JA, Curatti L, Aznar CP, Perova Z, Britt RD, Rubio LM (2008) Metal trafficking for nitrogen fixation: NifQ donates molybdenum to NifEN/NifH for the biosynthesis of the nitrogenase FeMo-cofactor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 105: 11679-11684.

Demonstration that an iron-sulfur cluster functions in the sequestration and trafficking of molybdenum, thereby uncovering a previously unknown role for iron-sulfur clusters in biology. The article was in the PNAS cover of PNAS and was subject of commentary article in PNAS. It was also selected by Faculty of 1000. JCR Impact: 9.38. Citations: 44. Altmetrics: 4.

10) Curatti L, Hernandez JA, Igarashi RY, Soboh B, Zhao D, Rubio LM (2007) In vitro synthesis of the iron-molybdenum cofactor of nitrogenase from iron, sulfur, molybdenum and homocitrate using purified proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 104: 17626-17631.

Purification of the entire suite of proteins required for the assembly of the nitrogenase iron-molybdenum cofactor and complete in vitro synthesis from atomic constituents using purified proteins (2007). Editor's choice in Science magazine “Back to the basics”. JCR Impact: 9.60. Citations: 67. Altmetrics: 3.