Periplasmic nanowires and electric conductive filaments made of the polymeric assembly of c-type cytochromes from Geobacter sulfurreducens bacterium are crucial for electron storage and/or extracellular electron transfer. The elucidation of the redox properties of each heme is fundamental to the understanding of the electron transfer mechanisms in these systems, which first requires the specific assignment of the heme NMR signals. The high number of hemes and the molecular weight of the nanowires dramatically decrease the spectral resolution and make this assignment extremely complex or unattainable. The nanowire cytochrome GSU1996 ( 42 kDa) is composed of four domains (A to D) each containing three c-type heme groups. In this work, the individual domains (A to D), bi-domains (AB, CD) and full-length nanowire were separately produced at natural abundance. Sufficient protein expression was obtained for domains C ( 11 kDa/three hemes) and D ( 10 kDa/three hemes), as well as for bi-domain CD ( 21 kDa/six hemes). Using 2D-NMR experiments, the assignment of the heme proton NMR signals for domains C and D was obtained and then used to guide the assignment of the corresponding signals in the hexaheme bi-domain CD. This new biochemical deconstruction-based procedure, using nanowire GSU1996 as a model, establishes a new strategy to functionally characterize large multiheme cytochromes.

The bacterium Geobacter metallireducens is capable of transferring electrons to the cell exterior, a process designated extracellular electron transfer. This mechanism allows the microorganism to reduce extracellular acceptors such as Fe(III) (hydr)oxides and water toxic and/or radioactive contaminants including Cr(VI) and U(VI). It is also capable of oxidizing waste water aromatic organic compounds being an important microorganism for bioremediation of polluted waters. Extracellular electron transfer also allows electricity harvesting from microbial fuel cells, a promising sustainable form of energy production. However, extracellular electron transfer processes in this microorganism are still poorly characterized. The triheme c-type cytochrome PpcA from G. metallireducens is abundant in the periplasm and is crucial for electron transfer between the cytoplasm and the cell’s exterior. In this work, we report near complete assignment of backbone, side chain and heme resonances for PpcA in the oxidized state that will permit its structure determination and identification of interactions with physiological redox partners.

Microbial electrosynthesis is an emerging green technology that explores the capability of a particular group of microorganisms to drive their metabolism toward the production of hydrogen or value-added chemicals from electrons supplied by electrode surfaces. The cytochrome PccH showed the largest increase in transcription when electrons are supplied to Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms. Gene knock-out experiments have shown that the electron transfer toward G. sulfurreducens cells was completely inhibited by the deletion of the gene encoding for cytochrome PccH. This identifies a crucial role for this protein in G. sulfurreducens microbial electrosynthesis mechanisms, which are currently unknown. In this work, we present the backbone (1H, 13C and 15N) and heme assignment for PccH in the oxidized state. The data obtained paves the way to identify and structurally map the molecular interaction regions between the cytochrome PccH and its physiological redox partners.

G. metallireducens bacterium has highly versatile respiratory pathways that provide the microorganism an enormous potential for many biotechnological applications. However, little is known about the structural and functional properties of its electron transfer components. In this work, the periplasmic cytochrome PpcA from G. metallireducens was studied in detail for the first time using complementary biophysical techniques, including UV–visible, CD and NMR spectroscopy. The results obtained showed that PpcA contains three low-spin c-type heme groups with His-His axial coordination, a feature also observed for its homologue in G. sulfurreducens. However, despite the high sequence homology between the two cytochromes, important structural and functional differences were observed. The comparative analysis of the backbone, side chain and heme substituents NMR signals revealed differences in the relative orientation of the hemes I and III. In addition, redox titrations followed by visible spectroscopy showed that the redox potential values for PpcA from G. metallireducens (−78 and −93 mV at pH 7 and 8, respectively) are considerably less negative. Overall, this study provides biochemical and biophysical data of a key cytochrome from G. metallireducens, paving the way to understand the extracellular electron transfer mechanisms in these bacteria.

Geobacter sulfurreducens is a dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium that exhibits an enormous respiratory versatility, including the utilization of several toxic and radioactive metals as electron acceptors. This versatility is also replicated in the capability of the most abundant cytochrome in G. sulfurreducens, the periplasmic triheme cytochrome PpcA, to reduce uranium, chromium and other metal ions. From all possible electron transfer pathways in G. sulfurreducens, those involved in the iron reduction are the best characterized to date. In a previous work we provided structural evidence for the complex interface established between PpcA and the electron acceptor Fe(III)-citrate. However, genetic studies suggested that this acceptor is mainly reduced by outer membrane cytochomes. In the present work, we used UV-visible measurements to demonstrate that PpcA is able to directly reduce the electron acceptor ferric nitrilotriacetic acid (Fe-NTA), a more outer membrane permeable iron chelated form. In addition, the molecular interactions between PpcA and Fe-NTA were probed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The NMR spectra obtained for natural abundance and 15N-enriched PpcA samples in the absence and presence of Fe-NTA showed that the interaction is reversible and encompasses a positively charged surface region located in the vicinity of the heme IV. Overall, the study provides for the first time a clear illustration of the formation of an electron transfer complex between PpcA and a readily outer-membrane permeable iron chelated form. The structural and functional relationships obtained explain how a single cytochrome is designed to effectively interact with a wide range of G. sulfurreducens electron acceptors, a feature that can be explored for optimal bioelectrochemical applications.

Gene knockout studies on Geobacter sulfurreducens (Gs) cells showed that the outer membrane cytochrome OmcF is involved in respiratory pathways leading to the extracellular reduction of Fe(III) citrate and U(VI) oxide. In addition, microarray analysis of OmcF-deficient mutant versus the wild-type strain revealed that many of the genes with decreased transcript level were those whose expression is upregulated in cells grown with a graphite electrode as electron acceptor. This suggests that OmcF also regulates the electron transfer to electrode surfaces and the concomitant electrical current production by Gs in microbial fuel cells. Extracellular electron transfer processes (EET) constitute nowadays the foundations to develop biotechnological applications in biofuel production, bioremediation and bioenergy. Therefore, the structural characterization of OmcF is a fundamental step to understand the mechanisms underlying EET. Here, we report the complete assignment of the heme proton signals together with (1)H, (13)C and (15)N backbone and side chain assignments of the OmcF, excluding the hydrophobic residues of the N-terminal predicted lipid anchor.

Gene knock-out studies on Geobacter sulfurreducens (Gs) cells showed that the periplasmic triheme cytochrome PpcD is involved in respiratory pathways leading to the extracellular reduction of Fe(III) and U(VI) oxides. More recently, it was also shown that the gene encoding for PpcD has higher transcript abundance when Gs cells utilize graphite electrodes as sole electron donors to reduce fumarate. This sets PpcD as the first multiheme cytochrome to be involved in Gs respiratory pathways that bridge the electron transfer between the cytoplasm and cell exterior in both directions. Nowadays, extracellular electron transfer (EET) processes are explored for several biotechnological applications, which include bioremediation, bioenergy and biofuel production. Therefore, the structural characterization of PpcD is a fundamental step to understand the mechanisms underlying EET. However, compared to non-heme proteins, the presence of numerous proton-containing groups in the redox centers presents additional challenges for protein signal assignment and structure calculation. Here, we report the complete assignment of the heme proton signals together with 1H, 13C and 15N backbone and side chain assignments of the reduced form of PpcD.

Gene knock-out studies on Geobacter sulfurreducens cells showed that the periplasmic triheme cytochrome PpcA is involved in respiratory pathways leading to the extracellular reduction of Fe(III) and U(VI) oxides. The crucial role of this protein in bridging the electron transfer between the cytoplasm and cell exterior was further supported by proteomics studies. In comparison with non-heme proteins, the presence of numerous proton-containing groups in the heme groups causes additional challenges to the full protein assignment and structure calculation. Here, we report the complete assignment of the heme proton signals together with the 1H and 15N backbone and side chain assignments of the reduced form of PpcA.

Previous studies with Geobacter sulfurreducens have demonstrated that OmcS, an abundant c-type cytochrome that is only loosely bound to the outer surface, plays an important role in electron transfer to Fe(III) oxides as well as other extracellular electron acceptors. In order to further investigate the function of OmcS, it was purified from a strain that overproduces the protein. Purified OmcS had a molecular mass of 47 015 Da, and six low-spin bis-histidinyl hexacoordinated heme groups. Its midpoint redox potential was −212 mV. A thermal stability analysis showed that the cooperative melting of purified OmcS occurs in the range of 65–82 °C. Far UV circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that the secondary structure of purified OmcS consists of about 10% α-helix and abundant disordered structures. Dithionite-reduced OmcS was able to transfer electrons to a variety of substrates of environmental importance including insoluble Fe(III) oxide, Mn(IV) oxide and humic substances. Stopped flow analysis revealed that the reaction rate of OmcS oxidation has a hyperbolic dependence on the concentration of the studied substrates. A ten-fold faster reaction rate with anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) (25.2 s− 1) was observed as compared to that with Fe(III) citrate (2.9 s− 1). The results, coupled with previous localization and gene deletion studies, suggest that OmcS is well-suited to play an important role in extracellular electron transfer.

NMR and visible spectroscopy coupled to redox measurements were used to determine the equilibrium thermodynamic properties of the four haems in cytochrome c3 under conditions in which the protein was bound to ligands, the small anion phosphate and the protein rubredoxin with the iron in the active site replaced by zinc. Comparison of these results with data for the isolated cytochrome shows that binding of ligands causes only small changes in the reduction potentials of the haems and their pairwise interactions, and also that the redox-sensitive acid–base centre responsible for the redox–Bohr effect is essentially unaffected. Although neither of the ligands tested is a physiological partner of cytochrome c3, the small changes observed for the thermodynamic properties of cytochrome c3 bound to these ligands vs. the unbound state, indicate that the thermodynamic properties measured for the isolated protein are relevant for a physiological interpretation of the role of this cytochrome in the bioenergetic metabolism of Desulfovibrio.