Abstract
The review considers the most general physicochemical properties of hydrogenases, the structure of their active centres, and the characteristics of the catalytic reactions in which they participate. It has been suggested that the hydrogenases be divided into one- and many-centre types in terms of the content of the iron–sulphur clusters in the protein molecule. The hydrogenases in these groups differ in their activity and physical and kinetic properties. Much attention has been devoted to the kinetic characteristics of hydrogenases, a scheme for the catalytic reaction has been deduced, and hypotheses have been put forward about the molecular mechanism of the action of these enzymes.
The bibliography includes 145 references.