Electron Transfer Clusters

Iron Sulfur Compounds. Many molecular compounds (18—20) are known in which iron is tetrahedraHy coordinated by a combination of thiolate and sulfide donors. Of the 10 or more stmcturaHy characterized classes of Fe—S compounds, the four shown in Figure 1 are known to occur in proteins. The mononuclear iron site REPLACE occurs in the one-iron bacterial electron-transfer protein mbredoxin. The [2Fe—2S] (10) and [4Fe—4S] (12) cubane stmctures are found in the 2-, 4-, and 8-iron ferredoxins, which are also electron-transfer proteins. The [3Fe—4S] voided cubane stmcture (11) has been found in some ferredoxins and in the inactive form of aconitase, the enzyme which catalyzes the stereospecific hydration—rehydration of citrate to isocitrate in the Krebs cycle. In addition, enzymes are known that contain either other types of iron sulfur clusters or iron sulfur clusters that include other metals. Examples include nitrogenase, which reduces N2 to NH at a MoFe Sg homocitrate cluster carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, which assembles acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) at a FeNiS site and hydrogenases, which catalyze the reversible reduction of protons to hydrogen gas. 

The second step involves the transfer of electrons from the reduced [FMNHg] to a series of Fe-S proteins, including both 2Fe-2S and 4Fe-4S clusters (see Figures 20.8 and 20.16). The unique redox properties of the flavin group of FMN are probably important here. NADH is a two-electron donor, whereas the Fe-S proteins are one-electron transfer agents. The flavin of FMN has three redox states—the oxidized, semiquinone, and reduced states. It can act as either a one-electron or a two-electron transfer agent and may serve as a critical link between NADH and the Fe-S proteins. 

The individual structural features of the high-tem-perature superconductors are found in other substances. A substance with alternating metal-salt layers is Ag2F, with sequence FAgAgFAgAgF . Resonance between a covalent bond and a no-bond is found in B (l =3,Z. 6) and in metals and organometallic clusters. Hyperelectronic-hypoelectronic electron transfer occurs... 

The spatial arrangement of the Fe-S clusters in D. gigas NiFe-hydrogenase (see Fig. 1) suggests an active role for the [Fe3S4] ° cluster in mediating electron transfer from the NiFe active site to the... 

Treatment of bovine heart bci complex with ethoxyformic anhydride (EFA), which is known to modify amino acid residues covalently (preferentially histidine residues), inhibits electron transfer and has an effect on the EPR spectra of the Rieske cluster comparable to that observed upon addition of stigmatellin, that is, a decrease in rhombicity (80). This further supports the suggestion that quinones as well as quinonoid inhibitors interact directly with the histidine ligands of the Rieske cluster. 

The use of direct electrochemical methods (cyclic voltammetry Pig. 17) has enabled us to measure the thermodynamic parameters of isolated water-soluble fragments of the Rieske proteins of various bci complexes (Table XII)). (55, 92). The values determined for the standard reaction entropy, AS°, for both the mitochondrial and the bacterial Rieske fragments are similar to values obtained for water-soluble cytochromes they are more negative than values measured for other electron transfer proteins (93). Large negative values of AS° have been correlated with a less exposed metal site (93). However, this is opposite to what is observed in Rieske proteins, since the cluster appears to be less exposed in Rieske-type ferredoxins that show less negative values of AS° (see Section V,B). 

In the ci positional state, fast electron transfer from the Rieske protein to cytochrome Ci will he facilitated hy the close interaction and by the hydrogen bond between His 161 of the Rieske protein and a propionate group of heme Ci, but the Rieske cluster is far away from the quinone binding site. 

In the b positional state, The Rieske cluster can interact with quinone bound in the reaction pocket, but the distance to heme Ci is too large (>30 A) to allow fast electron transfer. 

After the electron transfer (step 3), the resulting semiquinone is tightly hound to the reduced Rieske cluster in the b positional state (D) in this state, the semiquinone intermediate will he stabilized (116). 

After the second electron transfer from semiquinone to heme 6l (step 4), the interaction between the Rieske cluster and the resulting quinone is weakened so that the reduced Rieske protein can now occupy the preferred ci positional state (E), which allows rapid electron transfer from the Rieske cluster to heme Ci (step 5). 

NDO can be classified as class III dioxygenase the electron transfer chain involves a Rieske-type ferredoxin. Electrons enter NDO through the Rieske-type cluster of the dioxygenase. Kauppi et al. (11) have suggested that the binding site of NDO for the ferredoxin involves the 6 strands 10 and 12 of the Rieske domain as well as residues from the catalytic domain that form a depression in the protein surface close to Cys 101, which is a ligand of the Rieske cluster. In Rieske proteins from be complexes, access to this side of the cluster is blocked by an acidic surface residue (Asp 152 in the ISF, Glu 120 in RFS). 

Unlike Rieske clusters in be complexes, Rieske-type clusters are involved only in electron transfer and not in substrate binding or cataly-... 

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