Title
The Multicenter Aerobic Iron Respiratory Chain of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans Functions as an Ensemble with a Single Macroscopic Rate Constant.
Funding Source
U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense
Grant Number
DE-SC0007229, W911NF-12-1-0042
Department
College of Pharmacy
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-24-2015
Abstract
Electron transfer reactions among three prominent colored proteins in intact cells of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans were monitored using an integrating cavity absorption meter that permitted the acquisition of accurate absorbance data in suspensions of cells that scattered light. The concentrations of proteins in the periplasmic space were estimated to be 350 and 25 mg/ml for rusticyanin and cytochrome c, respectively; cytochrome a was present as one molecule for every 91 nm2 in the cytoplasmic membrane. All three proteins were rapidly reduced to the same relative extent when suspensions of live bacteria were mixed with different concentrations of ferrous ions at pH 1.5. The subsequent molecular oxygen-dependent oxidation of the multicenter respiratory chain occurred with a single macroscopic rate constant, regardless of the proteins' in vitro redox potentials or their putative positions in the aerobic iron respiratory chain. The crowded electron transport proteins in the periplasm of the organism constituted an electron conductive medium where the network of protein interactions functioned in a concerted fashion as a single ensemble with a standard reduction potential of 650 mV. The appearance of product ferric ions was correlated with the reduction levels of the periplasmic electron transfer proteins; the limiting first-order catalytic rate constant for aerobic respiration on iron was 7,400 s-1. The ability to conduct direct spectrophotometric studies under noninvasive physiological conditions represents a new and powerful approach to examine the extent and rates of biological events in situ without disrupting the complexity of the live cellular environment.
Recommended Citation
Li, Ting-Feng; Painter, R. G.; Ban, B.; and Blake, Robert C. II, "The Multicenter Aerobic Iron Respiratory Chain of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans Functions as an Ensemble with a Single Macroscopic Rate Constant." (2015). Faculty and Staff Publications. 255.
https://digitalcommons.xula.edu/fac_pub/255
Comments
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M115.657551
PubMed ID: 26041781
This work was supported by Grant DE-SC0007229 from the United States Department of Energy and Grant W911NF-12-1-0042 from the United States Department of Defense through its Army Research Office. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with the contents of this article.