Biophysical Journal 65: 1718-1726 (1993)
© 1993 the Biophysical Society

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Time-resolved absorption and magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy of cytochrome c3 from Desulfovibrio.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz 95064.

ABSTRACT

The UV-visible absorption and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra of the ferric, ferrous, CO-ligated forms and kinetic photolysis intermediates of the tetraheme electron-transfer protein cytochrome c3 (Cc3) are reported. Consistent with bis-histidinyl axial coordination of the hemes in this Class III c-type cytochrome, the Soret and visible region MCD spectra of ferric and ferrous Cc3 are very similar to those of other bis-histidine axially coordinated hemeproteins such as cytochrome b5. The MCD spectra indicate low spin state for both the ferric (S = 1/2) and ferrous (S = 0) oxidation states. CO replaces histidine as the axial sixth ligand at each heme site, forming a low-spin complex with an MCD spectrum similar to that of myoglobin-CO. Photodissociation of Cc3-CO (observed photolysis yield = 30%) produces a transient five-coordinate, high-spin (S = 2) species with an MCD spectrum similar to deoxymyoglobin. The recombination kinetics of CO with heme Fe are complex and appear to involve at least five first-order or pseudo first-order rate processes, corresponding to time constants of 5.7 microseconds, 62 microseconds, 425 microseconds, 2.9 ms, and a time constant greater than 1 s. The observed rate constants were insensitive to variation of the actinic photon flux, suggesting noncooperative heme-CO rebinding. The growing in of an MCD signal characteristic of bis-histidine axial ligation within tens of microseconds after photodissociation shows that, although heme-CO binding is thermodynamically favored at 1 atm CO, binding of histidine to the sixth axial site competes kinetically with CO rebinding.

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