Iron oxide electron transport

There are many similarities between the photoelectron transport particle from photosynthesis, the quantasome, and the basic electron transport particle involved in oxidative phosphorylation in nonphotosynthetic cells. The latter particle, found in mitochondria and sometimes called the elementary particle or oxosome, is also probably a high molecular weight particle with dimensions in the order of 100 to 200 A. It contains a complement of cytochromes, non-heme iron proteins, quinones, etc., and performs the transport of electrons coupled to the formation of ATP. Thus, one can make a strong case for the evolutionary relationship between the basic oxidative electron transport particle and the photoelectron transport particle. Speculations as to which one came first in evolution are dependent upon what one assumes to have been the environmental conditions under which the evolution occurred. 

The abihty of iron to exist in two stable oxidation states, ie, the ferrous, Fe ", and ferric, Fe ", states in aqueous solutions, is important to the role of iron as a biocatalyst (79) (see Iron compounds). Although the cytochromes of the electron-transport chain contain porphyrins like hemoglobin and myoglobin, the iron ions therein are involved in oxidation—reduction reactions (78). Catalase is a tetramer containing four atoms of iron peroxidase is a monomer having one atom of iron. The iron in these enzymes also undergoes oxidation and reduction (80). 

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. 

Where small quantities of high-purity steam is required for electronic chip, pharmaceutical, sterilization, food preparation, and similar process applications, a small risk of steam contamination may exist. This may be caused directly by the use of amine treatments or indirectly through process contaminants or the transport of iron oxides. Consequently, alternative arrangements for steam generation are made. 

Ferric iron can act as an electron acceptor under the anaerobic conditions the azo dye is in. Like sulfate, it was found that addition of ferric iron to the reactor stimulates the azo dye reduction. Indeed, the reactions are dealing with the redox couple Fe (III)/Fe (II), which can act as an electron shuttle for transferring electrons from electron donor to the electron accepting azo dye. Meanwhile, reactions of both reduction of Fe (III) to Fe (II) and oxidation of Fe (II) to Fe (III) facilitate the electron transport from the substrate to azo dye, thus acting as an extracellular redox mediator [31]. 

A second example of a membrane-bound arsenate reductase was isolated from Sulfurospirillum barnesii and was determined to be a aiPiyi-heterotrimic enzyme complex (Newman et al. 1998). The enzyme has a composite molecular mass of 100kDa, and a-, P-, and y-subunits have masses of 65, 31, and 22, respectively. This enzyme couples the reduction of As(V) to As(III) by oxidation of methyl viologen, with an apparent Kra of 0.2 mM. Preliminary compositional analysis suggests that iron-sulfur and molybdenum prosthetic groups are present. Associated with the membrane of S. barnesii is a h-type cytochrome, and the arsenate reductase is proposed to be linked to the electron-transport system of the plasma membrane. 

Porphyrin rings containing iron are also a feature of the cytochromes. Several cytochromes are responsible for the latter part of the electron transport chain of oxidative phosphorylation that provides the principal source of ATP for an aerobic cell (see Section 15.1.2). Their function involves alternate oxidation-reduction of the iron between Fe + (reduced form) and Fe + (oxidized form). The individual cytochromes vary structurally, and their classification (a, b, c, etc.) is related to their absorption maxima in the visible spectrum. They contain a haem system that is covalently bound to protein through thiol groups. 

Sherman, D.M. (1985) Electronic structures of Ee " coordination sites in iron oxides application to spectra, bonding and magnetism. Phys. Chem. Min. 12 161-175 Sherman, D.M. (1987). Molecular orbital (SCF-Xa-SW) theory of metal-metal charge transfer processes in minerals I. Application to the Fe vpe charge transfer and electron delocalization in mixed-valenced iron oxides and si-licates.Phys Chem Min 70 1262-1269 Sherman, D.M. (1990) Crystal chemistry, electronic structure and spectra of Fe sites in clay minerals. Applications to photochemistry and electron transport. In Coyne, L.M. McKeever, S.W.S. Blake, D.F. (eds.) Spectroscopic characterization of minerals and their surfaces. A.C.S. Symposium Series 415, 284-309... 

Putidaredoxin. Cushman et al. (36) isolated a low molecular iron-sulfur protein from camphor-grown Pseudomonas putida. This protein, putidaredoxin, is similar to the plant type ferredoxins with two irons attached to two acid-labile sulfur atoms (37). It has a molecular weight of 12,000 and shows absorption maxima at 327, 425 and 455 nm. Putidaredoxin functions as an electron transfer component of a methylene hydroxylase system involved in camphor hydroxylation by P. putida. This enzyme system consists of putidaredoxin, flavoprotein and cytochrome P.cQ (38). The electron transport from flavoprotein to cytochrome P.cq is Smilar to that of the mammalian mixed-function oxidase, but requires NADH as a primary electron donor as shown in Fig. 4. In this bacterial mixed-function oxidase system, reduced putidaredoxin donates an electron to substrate-bound cytochrome P. g, and the reduced cytochrome P. g binds to molecular oxygen. One oxygen atom is then used for substrate oxidation, and the other one is reduced to water (39, 40). 

Iron-sulfur proteins belong to the class of electron-transport proteins [29]. They contain an iron sulfur cluster, e.g. [4Fe-4S], which shuttles between different oxidation states. The structure of the cluster is quite consistent among a series of these proteins, but their redox potentials vary widely. Synthetic models of iron-sulfur proteins have been designed [30] to investigate the factors that determine the reduction potential of the core and to mimic other biologically... 

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