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Mossbauer effect in rubredoxin. Determination of the hyperfine field of the iron in a simple iron-sulphur protein.

ABSTRACT: 1. Rubredoxin isolated from the green photosynthetic bacterium Chloropseudomonas ethylica was similar in composition to those from anaerobic fermentative bacteria. Amino acid analysis indicated a minimum molecular weight of 6352 with one iron atom per molecule. 2. The circular-dichroism and electron-paramagnetic-resonance spectra of Ch. ethylica rubredoxin showed many similarities to those of Clostridium pasteurianum, but suggested that there may be subtle differences in the protein conformation about the iron atom. 3. Mössbauer-effect measurements on rubredoxin from Cl. pasteurianum and Ch. ethylica showed that in the oxidized state the iron (high-spin Fe(3+)) has a hyperfine field of 370+/-3kG, whereas in the reduced state (high-spin Fe(2+)) the hyperfine field tensor is anisotropic with a component perpendicular to the symmetry axis of the ion of about -200kG. For the reduced protein the sign of the electric-field gradient is negative, i.e. the ground state of the Fe(2+) is a [unk] orbital. There is a large non-cubic ligand-field splitting (Delta/k=900 degrees K), and a small spin-orbit splitting (D~+4.4cm(-1)) of the Fe(2+) levels. 4. The contributions of core polarization to the hyperfine field in the Fe(3+) and Fe(2+) ions are estimated to be -370 and -300kG respectively. 5. The significance of these results in interpretation of the Mössbauer spectra of other iron-sulphur proteins is discussed.

SUBMITTER: Rao KK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1174263 | biostudies-other | 1972 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:1. The Mössbauer spectra of Scenedesmus ferredoxin enriched in (57)Fe were measured and found to be identical with those of two other plant-type ferredoxins (from spinach and Euglena) that had been previously measured. Better resolved Mössbauer spectra of spinach ferredoxin are also reported from protein enriched in (57)Fe. All these iron-sulphur proteins are known to contain two iron atoms in a molecule that takes up one electron on reduction. 2. The Mössbauer spectra at 195 degrees K have electric hyperfine structure only and show that on reduction the electron goes to one of the iron atoms, the other appearing to remain unchanged. 3. In the oxidized state, both iron atoms are in a similar chemical state, which appears from the chemical shift and quadrupole splitting to be high-spin Fe(3+), but they are in slightly different environments. In the reduced state the iron atoms are different and the molecule appears to contain one high-spin Fe(2+) and one high-spin Fe(3+) atom. 4. At lower temperatures (77 and 4.2 degrees K) the spectra of both iron atoms in the reduced proteins show magnetic hyperfine structure which suggests that the iron in the oxidized state also has unpaired electrons. This provides experimental evidence for earlier suggestions that in the oxidized state there is antiferromagnetic exchange coupling, which would result in a low value for the magnetic susceptibility. 5. In a small magnetic field the spectrum of the reduced ferredoxin shows a Zeeman splitting with hyperfine field (H(n)) of 180kG at the nuclei. On application of a strong magnetic field H the spectrum splits into two spectra with effective fields H(n)+/-H, thus confirming the presence of the two antiferromagnetically coupled iron atoms. 6. These results are in agreement with the model proposed by Gibson, Hall, Thornley & Whatley (1966); in the oxidized state there are two Fe(3+) atoms (high spin) antiferromagnetically coupled and on reduction of the ferredoxin by one electron one of the ferric atoms becomes Fe(2+) (high spin).

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Mossbauer effect in rubredoxin. Determination of the hyperfine field of the iron in a simple iron-sulphur protein.

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