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Protein Science, Vol 1, Issue 11 1428-1434, Copyright © 1992 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
ARTICLE |
S. R. LYNCH and R. A. COPELAND
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637
The 1:1 complex between horse heart cytochrome c and bovine cytochrome c oxidase, and between yeast cytochrome c and Paracoccus denitrificans cytochrome c oxidase have been studied by a combination of second derivative absorption, circular dichroism (CD), and resonance Raman spectroscopy. The second derivative absorption and CD spectra reveal changes in the electronic transitions of cytochrome a upon complex formation. These results could reflect changes in ground state heme structure or changes in the protein environment surrounding the chromophore that affect either the ground or excited electronic states. The resonance Raman spectrum, on the other hand, reflects the heme structure in the ground electronic state only and shows no significant difference between cytochrome a vibrations in the complex or free enzyme. The only major difference between the Raman spectra of the free enzyme and complex is a broadening of the cytochrome a(3) formyl band of the complex that is relieved upon complex dissociation at high ionic strength. These data suggest that the differences observed in the second derivative and CD spectra are the result of changes in the protein environment around cytochrome a that affect the electronic excited state. By analogy to other protein-chromophore systems, we suggest that the energy of the Soret {pi}* state of cytochrome a may be affected by (1) changes in the local dielectric, possibly brought about by movement of a charged amino acid side chain in proximity to the heme group, or (2) {pi}-{pi} interactions between the heme and aromatic amino acid residues.
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