The class III anaerobic ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) studied to date couple the reduction of ribonucleotides to deoxynucleotides with the oxidation of formate to CO 2 . Here we report the cloning and heterologous expression of the Neisseria bacilliformis class III RNR and show that it can catalyze nucleotide reduction using the ubiquitous thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase/NADPH system. We present a structural model based on a crystal structure of the homologous Thermotoga maritima class III RNR, showing its architecture and the position of conserved residues in the active site. Phylogenetic studies suggest that this form of class III RNR is present in bacteria and archaea that carry out diverse types of anaerobic metabolism.T he class III ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) are glycyl radical enzymes present in many strict and facultative anaerobes that catalyze the conversion of nucleotides to deoxynucleotides (1, 2) via a mechanism involving complex free radical chemistry and are largely responsible for providing the balanced pool of deoxynucleotides required for DNA synthesis and repair (3). The class III RNRs that have been characterized thus far obtain the reducing equivalents required to make deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) from the oxidation of formate to CO 2 (4). Here we report a second subtype of class III RNR from Neisseria bacilliformis, which can obtain its reducing equivalents from the thioredoxin (TrxA)/thioredoxin reductase (TrxB)/ NADPH system. RNRs provide the only pathway for de novo biosynthesis of dNTPs (5). They share a structurally homologous active site architecture in the α subunit and a partially conserved, radicalbased reduction mechanism. RNRs have been isolated and characterized from all kingdoms of life and, based on the characterization of these proteins thus far, are divided into three classes (I, II, and III) according to the metallo-cofactor used to generate a thiyl radical that initiates the radical-dependent reduction chemistry (6). The class I RNRs use cofactors generated by the reaction of reduced metals (Fe, Mn, and Fe/Mn) and O 2 and are present only in aerobic organisms. The class II RNRs use adenosylcobalamin in an O 2 -independent reaction and are present in both aerobes and anaerobes. The class III RNR uses an O 2 -sensitive glycyl radical (G•) (2) situated in the α protein (NrdD), which is generated by a separate activating enzyme (NrdG) via radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-[4Fe4S] 1+ chemistry (7,8). The class III RNRs are only found in facultative and obligate anaerobes. A second distinction between the three classes has been the source of the reducing equivalents for nucleotide reduction. In the class I and II RNRs, they are provided by a redoxin (thioredoxin, glutaredoxin, or NrdH), which is rereduced by thioredoxin reductase and NADPH (9-11). In contrast, for the bacteriophage T4 (12), its Gram-negative host Escherichia coli (1), and the Gram-positive Lactococcus lactis (13), the only class III RNRs characterized in detail to date, nucleotide reduction i...