Iron-sulfur (Fe/S) proteins are present in virtually all living organisms and are involved in numerous cellular processes such as respiration, photosynthesis, metabolic reactions, nitrogen fixation, radical biochemistry, protein synthesis, antiviral defense, and genome maintenance. Their versatile functions may go back to the proposed role of their Fe/S cofactors in the origin of life as efficient catalysts and electron carriers. More than two decades ago, it was discovered that the in vivo synthesis of cellular Fe/S clusters and their integration into polypeptide chains requires assistance by complex proteinaceous machineries, despite the fact that Fe/S proteins can be assembled chemically in vitro. In prokaryotes, three Fe/S protein biogenesis systems are known; ISC, SUF, and the more specialized NIF. The former two systems have been transferred by endosymbiosis from bacteria to mitochondria and plastids, respectively, of eukaryotes. In their cytosol, eukaryotes use the CIA machinery for the biogenesis of cytosolic and nuclear Fe/S proteins. Despite the structural diversity of the protein constituents of these four machineries, general mechanistic concepts underlie the complex process of Fe/S protein biogenesis. This review provides a comprehensive and comparative overview of the various known biogenesis systems in Biology, and summarizes their common or diverging molecular mechanisms, thereby illustrating both the conservation and diverse adaptions of these four machineries during evolution and under different lifestyles. Knowledge of these fundamental biochemical pathways is not only of basic scientific interest, but is important for the understanding of human ‘Fe/S diseases’ and can be used in biotechnology.

铁硫（Fe / S）蛋白质几乎存在于所有活生物体中，并参与许多细胞过程，例如呼吸，光合作用，代谢反应，固氮，自由基生化，蛋白质合成，抗病毒防御和基因组维护。它们的多功能功能可以追溯到它们的Fe / S辅助因子作为有效催化剂和电子载体在生命起源中的拟议作用。二十多年前，人们发现，尽管Fe / S蛋白可以在体外化学组装，但细胞内Fe / S簇的体内合成及其整合到多肽链中仍需要复杂的蛋白质机制的协助。。在原核生物中，已知三种Fe / S蛋白生物发生系统。ISC，SUF和更专业的NIF。前两种系统已通过共生作用从细菌分别转移到真核生物的线粒体和质体中。真核生物在其细胞质中使用CIA机器进行胞质和核Fe / S蛋白的生物合成。尽管这四种机器的蛋白质成分在结构上存在差异，但一般的机械原理仍是Fe / S蛋白质生物合成的复杂过程的基础。这篇综述提供了生物学中各种已知生物发生系统的全面和比较性概述，并总结了它们的共同或不同的分子机制，从而阐明了这四种机器在进化过程中以及在不同生活方式下的保守性和多样性。