Electron transfer in zinc-reconstituted nitrite reductase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

1. The catalytic cycle of the haem-containing nitrite reductase (NIR) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa involves electron transfer between the two prosthetic groups of the enzyme, the c-haem and the d1-haem; this reaction was shown to be slow by stopped-flow analysis. The recombinant enzyme, expressed in Pseudomonas putida, contains the c-haem but no d1-haem; we have reconstituted this protein with Zn-protoporphyrin IX in the place of the d1-haem.

Site-directed mutagenesis of residues lining a putative proton transfer pathway in cytochrome c oxidase from Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

Several putative proton transfer pathways have been identified in the recent crystal structures of the cytochrome oxidases from Paracoccus denitrificans [Iwata et al. (1995) Nature 376, 660-669] and bovine [Tsukihara (1996) Science 272, 1138-1144]. A series of residues along one face of the amphiphilic transmembrane helix IV lie in one of these proton transfer pathways.

A ligand-exchange mechanism of proton pumping involving tyrosine-422 of subunit I of cytochrome oxidase is ruled out.

The molecular mechanism by which proton pumping is coupled to electron transfer in cytochrome c oxidase has not yet been determined. However, several models of this process have been proposed which are based on changes occurring in the vicinity of the redox centers of the enzyme. Recently, a model was described in which a well-conserved tyrosine residue in subunit I (Y422) was proposed to undergo ligand exchange with the histidine ligand (H419) of the high-spin heme a3 during the catalytic cycle, allowing both residues to serve as part of a proton transporting system.

EPR studies of wild-type and several mutants of cytochrome c oxidase from Rhodobacter sphaeroides: Glu286 is not a bridging ligand in the cytochrome a3-CuB center.

Wild-type and several mutants of cytochrome c oxidase from Rhodobacter sphaeroides were characterized by EPR spectroscopy. A pH-induced g12 signal, seen previously in mammalian cytochrome oxidase and assigned to the presence of a bridging carboxyl ligand in the bimetallic cytochrome a3-CuB site, is found also in the bacterial enzyme. Mutation of glutamate-286 to glutamine inactivates the enzyme but does not affect this signal, demonstrating that the carboxyl group of this residue is not the bridging ligand.

Trypsin treatment of reaction centers from Rhodobacter sphaeroides in the dark and under illumination: protein structural changes follow charge separation.

Reaction centers from Rhodobacter sphaeroides R-26 were treated with trypsin in the dark and during illumination (in the charge-separated state). Trypsination resulted in a time-dependent modification of the reaction centers, reflected in changes in the charge recombination rate, in the inhibition of QA- to QB electron transfer, and eventually to inhibition of charge separation. Comparisons of centers with ubiquinone or anthraquinone in the QA site, in which the charge recombination pathways are different, indicate that trypsination affects charges close to the QA(-)-binding site.

Electrogenic light reactions in photosystem I: resolution of electron-transfer rates between the iron-sulfur centers.

Flash-induced voltage changes (electrogenic events) in photosystem I particles from spinach, oriented in a phospholipid layer, have been studied at room temperature on a time scale ranging from 1 micros to several seconds. A phospholipid layer containing photosystem I particles was adsorbed to a Teflon film separating two aqueous compartments. Voltage changes were measured across electrodes immersed in the compartments.

Triplet-state quenching in complexes between Zn-cytochrome c and cytochrome oxidase or its CuA domain.

The quenching of the triplet state of Zn-cytochrome c in electrostatic complexes with cytochrome oxidase and its soluble CuA domain has been studied by laser flash photolysis. The triplet state of free Zn-cytochrome c decayed with a rate of about 200 s-1. With the oxidase, biphasic decay with rate constants of 2 x 10(5) and 2 x 10(3) s-1, respectively, was observed.

Internal electron transfer in cytochrome c oxidase from Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

Absorbance changes following CO dissociation by flash photolysis from mixed-valence aa3 cytochrome oxidase from Rhodobacter sphaeroides have been followed in the Soret and alpha regions. They reflect internal electron transfer in the partially reduced enzyme, and the kinetics of the reactions has been determined. As with the bovine enzyme, three kinetic phases are found with relaxation time constants at neutral pH of about 3 microseconds, 35 microseconds, and 1 ms.

Light-induced voltage changes associated with electron and proton transfer in photosystem II core complexes reconstituted in phospholipid monolayers.

We have measured light-induced voltage changes (electrogenic events) in photosystem II (PSII) core complexes oriented in phospholipid monolayers. These events are compared to those measured in the functionally and structurally closely related reaction centers from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. In both systems we observed a rapid (< 100 ns) light-induced increase in voltage associated with charge separation.

Light-induced structural changes in cytochrome c oxidase: implication for the mechanism of electron and proton gating.

We have investigated electrogenic events and absorbance changes following pulsed illumination of partly reduced cytochrome c oxidase in the absence of dioxygen and carbon monoxide (Hallén et al. (1993) FEBS Lett. 318, 134-138).

Internal electron transfer in cytochrome c oxidase is coupled to the protonation of a group close to the bimetallic site.

Absorbance changes following CO dissociation by flash photolysis from mixed-valence cytochrome oxidase have been followed in the Soret and alpha regions. Apart from CO dissociation and recombination, three kinetic phases with rate constants in the range 10(5)-10(3) s-1 at pH 7.5 can be resolved in both spectral regions.

Light-induced structural changes in cytochrome c oxidase. Measurements of electrogenic events and absorbance changes.

We have investigated flash-induced electrogenic events and absorbance changes in cytochrome c oxidase in the absence of dioxygen and carbon monoxide. Electrogenic events were studied using a Teflon-bound layer of cytochrome c oxidase oriented in a phospholipid monolayer. Absorbance changes were observed exclusively in partly reduced cytochrome c oxidase; the largest changes were found in the one-electron-reduced species.

The effect of pH and temperature on the reaction of fully reduced and mixed-valence cytochrome c oxidase with dioxygen.

The reaction of fully reduced and mixed-valence cytochrome oxidase with O2 has been followed in flow-flash experiments, starting from the CO complexes, at 428, 445, 605 and 830 nm between pH 5.8b and 9.0 in the temperature range of 2-40 degrees C.

[Influence of intraoral douches over the parodontium state and leucocytes activity in patients treated in the sanatorium of Swieradow Zdroj].

Using the following indices: gingival--GI, of gingivorrhoea--GBI, of parodontium--PI and of dental deposit--DI and the measure of the gingival pockets' depth and pocket fluid clinical estimation has been performed in 33 men with parodontium inflammation before and after the set 15 balneological procedures. Leucocytes and other morphotic elements in the pockets have been estimated on Styrophlex straps. Examinations of the peripheral blood have comprised NBT spontaneous test and stimulated by concanavalin, phagocytosis and chemotaxis.

[Estimation of the printing preparations from the gingival pockets on the styrophlex straps with application of telemicroscopy].

Printing preparations from the gingival pockets coloured by means of Shorr's method and secretion of pocket fluid have been estimated in 33 patients before and after balneological treatment. A telemicroscope has been used to estimate the preparations. The preparations have been analyzed in the linear enlargement of 1500 times using a network consisting of 35 fields of the dimensions of 3 cm x 3 cm (20 microns x 20 microns in the preparation) marked on a monitor screen.

Cytochrome c oxidase as an electron-transport-driven proton pump: pH dependence of the reduction levels of the redox centers during turnover.

The pH dependence of the steady-state kinetic parameters of cytochrome oxidase has been determined in the pH range 5.4-8.4 with the enzyme in detergent solution at high ionic strength.

The catalytic mechanism of gastric H+/K+-ATPase: simulations of pre-steady-state and steady-state kinetic results.

A reaction cycle for the gastric H+/K+-ATPase is proposed. This has been used to simulate the results from four types of pre-steady-state and steady-state kinetic experiments: (1) the K+ dependence of the dephosphorylation of the phosphoenzyme; (2) the rate of phosphorylation of the enzyme by ATP at different concentrations; (3) the effect of ATP concentration on the steady-state rate of ATP hydrolysis; (4) the phosphoenzyme levels in the steady state at various ATP concentrations. A single set of equilibrium and rate constants can be used to reproduce the results from all four sets of experiments quite well.