Cytochromes cycle

The cytochromes are the electron carrier heme proteins occurring in the mitochondrial respiratory chain.449 There are five cytochromes linking coenzymes Q (ubiquinone) and 02 in this electron transport chain (Scheme 7). Cytochromes are also involved in energy transfer in photosynthesis. The iron atom in cytochromes cycles between the Fe11 and Fe111 states, i.e. they are one-electron carriers, in contrast to CoQ and the NADH flavins they act upon which are two-electron carriers. Thus, one molecule of reduced CoQ transfer its two high potential electrons to two molecules of cytochrome b, the next member of the electron transport chain. 

Insects poisoned with rotenone exhibit a steady decline ia oxygen consumption and the iasecticide has been shown to have a specific action ia interfering with the electron transport iavolved ia the oxidation of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) by cytochrome b. Poisoning, therefore, inhibits the mitochondrial oxidation of Krebs-cycle iatermediates which is catalysed by NAD. 

N—Fe(IV)Por complexes. Oxo iron(IV) porphyrin cation radical complexes, [O—Fe(IV)Por ], are important intermediates in oxygen atom transfer reactions. Compound I of the enzymes catalase and peroxidase have this formulation, as does the active intermediate in the catalytic cycle of cytochrome P Q. Similar intermediates are invoked in the extensively investigated hydroxylations and epoxidations of hydrocarbon substrates cataly2ed by iron porphyrins in the presence of such oxidizing agents as iodosylbenzene, NaOCl, peroxides, and air. 

Two and twelve moles of ATP are produced, respectively, per mole of glucose consumed in the glycolytic pathway and each turn of the Krebs (citrate) cycle. In fat metaboHsm, many high energy bonds are produced per mole of fatty ester oxidized. Eor example, 129 high energy phosphate bonds are produced per mole of palmitate. Oxidative phosphorylation has a remarkable 75% efficiency. Three moles of ATP are utilized per transfer of two electrons, compared to the theoretical four. The process occurs via a series of reactions involving flavoproteins, quinones such as coenzyme Q, and cytochromes. 

Fig. 4. The cycle of events involved in cytochrome (Cyt) P q (Cyt P450 Fe + ) mediated dmg metaboHsm where NADP is nicotinamide disphosphate and...

FIGURE 7.14 A Fractogel EMD BioSEC Superformance column (600-16) was loaded with 500 /il of BSA, ovalbumin, and cytochrome c (5/5/3 mg/ml) at I ml/min. The test covered 100 individual runs with the standard proteins as samples. The buffer system used was 20 m/VI sodium dihydrogen phosphate, 300 m/VI NaCI, pH 7.2. After each individual run the column was rinsed with I /VI NaOH (60 min with I /VI NaOH at 2 ml/min). No significant change in retention times and resolution was observed after 100 cycles. 

In the third complex of the electron transport chain, reduced coenzyme Q (UQHg) passes its electrons to cytochrome c via a unique redox pathway known as the Q cycle. UQ cytochrome c reductase (UQ-cyt c reductase), as this complex is known, involves three different cytochromes and an Fe-S protein. In the cytochromes of these and similar complexes, the iron atom at the center of the porphyrin ring cycles between the reduced Fe (ferrous) and oxidized Fe (ferric) states. 

The second half of the cycle (Figure 21.12b) is similar to the first half, with a second molecule of UQHg oxidized at the Q site, one electron being passed to cytochrome C and the other transferred to heme bj and then to heme bfj. In this latter half of the Q cycle, however, the bn electron is transferred to the semiquinone anion, UQ , at the Q site. With the addition of two from... 

Why has nature chosen this rather convoluted path for electrons in Complex 111 First of all. Complex 111 takes up two protons on the matrix side of the inner membrane and releases four protons on the cytoplasmic side for each pair of electrons that passes through the Q cycle. The apparent imbalance of two protons in ior four protons out is offset by proton translocations in Complex rV, the cytochrome oxidase complex. The other significant feature of this mechanism is that it offers a convenient way for a two-electron carrier, UQHg, to interact with the bj and bfj hemes, the Rieske protein Fe-S cluster, and cytochrome C, all of which are one-electron carriers. 

Cytochrome c oxidase contains two heme centers (cytochromes a and %) as well as two copper atoms (Figure 21.17). The copper sites, Cu and Cug, are associated with cytochromes a and respectively. The copper sites participate in electron transfer by cycling between the reduced (cuprous) Cu state and the oxidized (cupric) Cu state. (Remember, the cytochromes and copper sites are one-electron transfer agents.) Reduction of one oxygen molecule requires passage of four electrons through these carriers—one at a time (Figure... 

Trumpower, B. L., 1990. The protonmotive Q cycle—energy tran.sduction by coupling of proton tran.slocation to electron tran.sfer by the cytochrome bei corap[ x. Journal of Biological Chemistry 265 11409-11412. 

This impressive reaction is catalyzed by stearoyl-CoA desaturase, a 53-kD enzyme containing a nonheme iron center. NADH and oxygen (Og) are required, as are two other proteins cytochrome 65 reductase (a 43-kD flavo-protein) and cytochrome 65 (16.7 kD). All three proteins are associated with the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Cytochrome reductase transfers a pair of electrons from NADH through FAD to cytochrome (Figure 25.14). Oxidation of reduced cytochrome be, is coupled to reduction of nonheme Fe to Fe in the desaturase. The Fe accepts a pair of electrons (one at a time in a cycle) from cytochrome b and creates a cis double bond at the 9,10-posi-tion of the stearoyl-CoA substrate. Og is the terminal electron acceptor in this fatty acyl desaturation cycle. Note that two water molecules are made, which means that four electrons are transferred overall. Two of these come through the reaction sequence from NADH, and two come from the fatty acyl substrate that is being dehydrogenated. 

Scheme 10.4 The catalytic cycle of cytochrome P450. Only one possible valence structure of the oxoferrous species IV has been depicted for clarity. See text for details.

Figure 7. Mechanism of the proton-translocating ubiquinol cytochrome c reductase (complex III) Q cycle. There is a potential difference of up to 150 mV across the hydrophobic core of this complex (potential barrier represented by the vertical broken line). Cytochromes hour and b N are heme groups on the same peptide subunits of complex III which can transfer electrons across the hydrophobic core. The movement of two electrons provides the driving force to transfer two protons from the matrix to the cytosol. Diffusion of UQ and UQHj, which are uncharged, in the hydrophobic core, and lipid bilayer of the inner membrane is not influenced by the membrane potential (see Nicholls and Ferguson, 1992).

When both electrons have been transferred to cytochrome c and to heme bn, the Rieske protein can go back to the intermediate state (step 6) and the site is ready for the next reaction cycle. 

Studies (see, e.g., (101)) indicate that photosynthesis originated after the development of respiratory electron transfer pathways (99, 143). The photosynthetic reaction center, in this scenario, would have been created in order to enhance the efficiency of the already existing electron transport chains, that is, by adding a light-driven cycle around the cytochrome be complex. The Rieske protein as the key subunit in cytochrome be complexes would in this picture have contributed the first iron-sulfur center involved in photosynthetic mechanisms (since on the basis of the present data, it seems likely to us that the first photosynthetic RC resembled RCII, i.e., was devoid of iron—sulfur clusters). 

Moreover, an electron transfer chain could be reconstituted in vitro that is able to oxidize aldehydes to carboxylic acids with concomitant reduction of protons and net production of dihydrogen (213, 243). The first enzyme in this chain is an aldehyde oxidoreductase (AOR), a homodimer (100 kDa) containing one Mo cofactor (MOD) and two [2Fe—2S] centers per subunit (199). The enzyme catalytic cycle can be regenerated by transferring electrons to flavodoxin, an FMN-con-taining protein of 16 kDa (and afterwards to a multiheme cytochrome and then to hydrogenase) ... 

Figure 11-6. Cytochrome P450 hydroxylase cycle in microsomes. The system shown is typical of steroid hydroxylases of the adrenal cortex. Liver microsomal cytochrome P450 hydroxylase does not require the iron-sulfur protein FejSj. Carbon monoxide (CO) inhibits the indicated step.

The electron transfer properties of the cytochromes involve cycling of the iron between the +2 and +3 oxidation states (Cytochrome)Fe + e" (Cytochrome)Fe ° = -0.3Vto+ 0.4V Different cytochromes have different side groups attached to the porphyrin ring. These side groups modify the electron density in the delocalized iz system of the porphyrin, which in turn changes the redox potential of the iron cation in the heme. 

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