期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1999
卷号:96
期号:3
页码:899-902
DOI:10.1073/pnas.96.3.899
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:The recent expression of an azurin mutant where the blue type 1 copper site is replaced by the purple CuA site of Paracoccus denitrificans cytochrome c oxidase has yielded an optimal system for examining the unique electron mediation properties of the binuclear CuA center, because both type 1 and CuA centers are placed in the same location in the protein while all other structural elements remain the same. Long-range electron transfer is induced between the disulfide radical anion, produced pulse radiolytically, and the oxidized binuclear CuA center in the purple azurin mutant. The rate constant of this intramolecular process, kET = 650 {+/-} 60 s-1 at 298 K and pH 5.1, is almost 3-fold faster than for the same process in the wild-type single blue copper azurin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (250 {+/-} 20 s-1), in spite of a smaller driving force (0.69 eV for purple CuA azurin vs. 0.76 eV for blue copper azurin). The reorganization energy of the CuA center is calculated to be 0.4 eV, which is only 50% of that found for the wild-type azurin. These results represent a direct comparison of electron transfer properties of the blue and purple CuA sites in the same protein framework and provide support for the notion that the binuclear purple CuA center is a more efficient electron transfer agent than the blue single copper center because reactivity of the former involves a lower reorganization energy.