Covalency plastocyanin

For the cytochrome c-plastocyanin complex, the kinetic effects of cross-linking are much more drastic while the rate of the intracomplex transfer is equal to 1000 s in the noncovalent complex where the iron-to-copper distance is expected to be about 18 A, it is estimated to be lower than 0.2 s in the corresponding covalent complex [155]. This result is all the more remarkable in that the spectroscopic and thermodynamic properties of the two redox centers appear weakly affected by the cross-linking process, and suggests that an essential segment of the electron transfer path has been lost in the covalent complex. Another system in which such conformational effects could be studied is the physiological complex between tetraheme cytochrome and ferredoxin I from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans Norway the spectral and redox properties of the hemes and of the iron-sulfur cluster are found essentially identical in the covalent and noncovalent complexes and an intracomplex transfer, whose rate has not yet been measured, takes place in the covalent species [156]. 

Figure 7. Ground-state wave function of plastocyanin. A HOMO wave function contour for plastocyanin (28). B HOMO wave function contour for the thiolate copper complex tet b (34/ C Copper L-edge (38) and sulfur K-edge (34) spectra as probes of metal-ligand covalency. D Absorption, single-crystal polarized absorption, and low-temperature MCD spectra of plastocyanin. The absorption spectrum has been Gaussian resolved into its component bands as in reference 33.

As the axial ligand is weakly bound in BCP (Randall et al., 2000), the spin density delocalized on it is small. Indeed, in azurin the resonances of the axial methionine protons do not experience a significant hyperfine shift contribution. Electron delocalization onto a Hy of the axial Met has been detected in plastocyanin (signal F in Fig. 3B), suggesting some covalency for the Cu-S(Met) bond. The absence of spin density on the axial Gin ligand in stellacyanin has been attributed to the fact that the y-CH2 Gin geminal couple is four bonds away from the metal ion, whereas the equivalent protons in a bound Met residue (such as in plastocyanin) are only three bonds away (Bertini et al., 2000). 

The ability of clathrochelates to form ion pairs and covalently attached complexes is utilized in biochemistry [315-321], The stereoselectivity of the redox reactions of plastocyanine and horse heart cytochrome C with several cage complexes was reported in Ref 319. Studies on stereoselective electron transfer in different systems provide information on the importance of close ion pair association of a cage complex with protein in chiral discrimination. 

Over the past several years, we have developed a technique that has proven extremely valuable in the study of electron transfer between redox sites in metalloproteins. We have reported kinetic studies of the reaction of cytochrome c with cytochrome c peroxidase (i-3), cytochrome oxidase (4), cytochrome bs (5, 6) plastocyanin (7), and cytochrome Ci (8). In addition, we have been able to show (9,10) that intramolecular electron transfer in cytochrome bs covalently... 

The rate of electron transfer through a protein is dependent on the electron coupling matrix element, Hj b-Hab is dependent on the distance an electron must travel between the donor and acceptor sites (the shorter the distance, the better the coupling and the larger the value of Hab) and on the covalency of ligand-metal bonds (the higher the covalency, the larger the value of In plastocyanin, there are two ET sites on... 

The kinetics of electron transfer reactions between spinach plastocyanin and [Fe(CN)6] ", [Co(phen)3] , and Fe(II) cytochrome c have been studied as a function of ionic strength. Applications of the equations of Van Leeuwen support the proposal of two sites of electron transfer, with [Co(phen)3] binding near residues 42-45 and the interaction of [Fe(CN)6] at a hydrophobic region near the copper ion. Pulse radiolysis has been employed to measure the rates of electron transfer from Ru(II) to Cu(II) in plastocyanins from Anabaena variabilis and Scenedesmus obliquus which have been modified at His-59 by [Ru(NH3)5] . The small intramolecular rates (<0.082 and <0.26 s , respectively) over a donor-acceptor distance of 12 A indicate that electron transfer from the His-59 site to the Cu center is not a preferred pathway. A more favorable route, via the acidic (residues 42-44) patch ( 14 A to Cu), is supported by the rate of >5 x 10 s for the reduction of PCu(II) by unattached [Ru(NH3)5im] . The intramolecular electron transfer from Fe(II) in horse cytochrome c to Cu(II) in French bean plastocyanin ( 12 A from heme edge to Cys-84 S), in a carbodiimide cross-linked covalent complex, proceeds with a rate of 1.05 x 10 s . The presence of the... 

---