Redox intermediates of D. desulfuricans ATCC 27774 [NiFe] hydrogenase were generated under dihydrogen. Detailed redox titrations, coupled to EPR measurements, give access to the mid-point redox potentials of the iron-sulfur centers and of the Nickel-B signal that represents the ready form of the enzyme. The interaction between the dihydrogen molecule and the nickel centre was probed by the observation of an isotopic effect on the EPR signals detected in turnover conditions, by comparison of the H2O/H2 and D2O/D2-reacted samples.

Cytochrome c peroxidase from Paracoccus denitrificans LMD 52.44 was recently identified. The enzyme contains two c-type haems: one is reducible physiologically by cytochrome c550 from the same organism or non-physiologically by ascorbate (high-potential haem) and the other by dithionite (low-potential haem). The enzymatically active form of the peroxidase is the half-reduced enzyme state, in which the high-potential haem is in the iron(II) state and the low-potential haem is in the iron(III) state. It was found that the two haems interact and that the enzyme binds calcium ions near the haem sites which are necessary to promote its activation. In the oxidized form, the high-potential haem is in a high-spin and the low-potential haem is in a low-spin state. The half-reduction of the enzyme with ascorbate-diaminodurol changes the high-potential haem (high-spin) into a low-spin state and the low-potential haem converts from a low- into a high-spin state. This high-spin conversion of the low-potential haem is induced by the presence of calcium ions. These processes of reduction and spin state change can be easily resolved in time by removing the calcium from the enzyme using EDTA, facilitating the observation of the intermediate form by NMR.

Thirteen cows maintained on natural bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) were analyzed cytogenetically. The frequency of structural chromosome aberrations detected in peripheral blood cells was significantly higher when compared to that detected in animals raised on pasture containing no bracken fern. We discuss the clastogenic action of fern and its synergistic action with infection by type 2 and 4 papilloma virus in the same animals.

Three multiheme c-type cytochromes--the tetraheme cytochrome c3 (molecular weight [MW] 13,500), a dodecaheme cytochrome c (MW 40,800), and a "split-Soret" cytochrome c (MW 51,540), which is a dimer with 2 hemes per subunit (MW 26,300)--were isolated from the soluble fraction of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans (ATCC 27774) grown under nitrate- or sulfate-respiring conditions. Two of them, the dodecaheme and the split-Soret cytochromes, showed no similarities to any of the c-type cytochromes isolated from other sulfate-reducing bacteria, while the tetraheme cytochrome c3 appeared to be analogous to the cytochrome c3 found in other sulfate-reducing bacteria. For all three multiheme c-type cytochromes isolated, the homologous proteins from nitrate- and sulfate-grown cells were indistinguishable in amino acid composition, physical properties, and spectroscopic characteristics. It therefore appears that the same c-type cytochrome components are present when D. desulfuricans ATCC 27774 cells are grown under either condition. This is in contrast to the considerable difference found in Pseudomonas perfectomarina (Liu et al., J. Bacteriol. 154:278-286, 1983), a marine denitrifier, when the cells are grown on nitrate or oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor. In addition, two spectroscopy methods capable of revealing minute structural variations in proteins provided identical information about the tetraheme cytochrome c3 from nitrate-grown and sulfate-grown cells.

Mössbauer, EPR, and biochemical techniques were used to characterize two dissimilatory sulfite reductases: desulforubidin from Desulfovibrio baculatus strain DSM 1743 and desulfoviridin from Desulfovibrio gigas . For each molecule of desulforubidin, there are two sirohemes and four [4Fe−4S] clusters. The [4Fe−4S] clusters are in the diamagnetic 2+ oxidation state. The sirohemes are high-spin ferric (S=5/2) and each siroheme is exchanged-coupled to a [4Fe−4S] 2+ cluster. Such an exchange-coupled siroheme-[4Fe−4S] unit has also been found in the assimilatory sulfite reductase from Escherichia coli /1/ and in a low-molecular weight sulfite reductase from Desulfovibrio vulgaris /2/. For each molecule of defulfoviridin, there are two tetrahydroporphyrin groups and four [4Fe−4S] 2+ clusters. To our surprise, we discovered that about 80% of the tetrahydroporphyrin groups, however, do not bind iron.

Two c-type cytochromes were purified and characterized by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic techniques, from the sulfate-reducer nitrogen-fixing organism, Desulfovibrio desulfuricans strain Berre-Eau (NCIB 8387). The purification procedures included several chromatographic steps on alumina, carboxymethylcellulose and gel filtration. A tetrahaem and a monohaem cytochrome were identified. The multihaem cytochrome has visible, EPR and NMR spectra with general properties similar to other low-potential bis-histidinyl axially bound haem proteins, belonging to the class of tetrahaem cytochrome c3 isolated from other Desulfovibrio species. The monohaem cytochrome c553 is ascorbate-reducible and its EPR and NMR data are characteristic of a cytochrome with methionine-histidine ligation. Their properties are compared with other homologous proteins isolated from sulfate-reducing bacteria.

We have obtained the iron K-edge extended X-ray adsorption fine structure spectra of the 3Fe ferredoxin II of Desulfovibrio gigas in the oxidized and reduced states. For both states, interpretation of the EXAFS data suggests that the Fe-S first shell coordination distance is near 2.25 A, in agreement with crystallographic studies of model compounds and proteins containing 2Fe-2S and 4Fe-4S centers, as well as with a recent crystallographic study of Azotobacter vinelandii ferredoxin I (Ghosh, D., Furey, W., Jr., O'Donnell, S., and Stout, C. D. (1981) J. Biol. Chem. 256, 4185-4192). The apparent Fe-Fe distance we obtain for the desulfovibrio protein (2.7 A) also agrees with similar distances seen in other Fe-S centers, except with the 3Fe cluster in the Azotobacter vinelandii ferredoxin I structure, for which an Fe-Fe distance of 4.2 A was reported. We conclude that either the two 3Fe ferredoxins have substantially different core dimensions, a possibility apparently unique to 3Fe centers among known Fe-S systems in proteins, or that one (or more) of the structural studies is in substantial error.