Transmembrane Charge Separation during the Ferryl-oxo → Oxidized Transition in a Nonpumping Mutant of CytochromecOxidase
The N139D mutant of cytochromecoxidase fromRhodobacter sphaeroidesretains full steady state oxidase activity but completely lacks proton translocation coupled to turnover in reconstituted liposomes (Pawate, A. S., Morgan, J., Namslauer, A., Mills, D., Brzezinski, P., Ferguson-Miller, S., and Gennis, R. B. (2002)Biochemistry41, 13417–13423). Here, time-resolved electron transfer and vectorial charge translocation in the ferryl-oxo → oxidized transition (transfer of the 4th electron in the catalytic cycle) have been studied with the N139D mutant using ruthenium(II)-tris-bipyridyl complex as a photoactive single-electron donor. With the wild type oxidase, the flash-induced generation of Δφ in the ferryl-oxo → oxidized transition begins with rapid vectorial electron transfer from CuAto heme a (τ ∼15 μs), followed by two protonic phases, referred to as the intermediate (0.4 ms) and slow electrogenic phases (1.5 ms). In the N139D mutant, only a single protonic phase (τ ∼0.6 ms) is observed, which was associated with electron transfer from heme a to the heme a3/CuBsite and decelerates ∼4-fold in D2O. With the wild type oxidase, such a high H2O/D2O solvent isotope effect is characteristic of only the slow (1.5 ms) phase. Presumably, the 0.6-ms electrogenic phase in the N139D mutant reports proton transfer from the inner aqueous phase to Glu-286, replacing the “chemical” proton transferred from Glu-286 to the heme a3/CuBsite. The transfer occurs through the D-channel, because it is observed also in the N139D/K362M double mutant in which the K-channel is blocked. It is concluded that the intermediate electrogenic phase observed in the wild type enzyme is missing in the N139D mutant and is because of translocation of the “pumped” proton from Glu-286 to the D-ring propionate of heme a3or to release of this proton to the outer aqueous phase. Significantly, with the wild type oxidase, the protonic electrogenic phase associated with proton pumping (∼0.4 ms) precedes the electrogenic phase associated with the oxygen chemistry (∼1.5 ms).