Abstract: The fast and slow refolding reactions of iron(III) cytochrome c (Fe(III) cyt c), previously studied by Ikai et al. (Ikai, A., Fish, W. W., & Tanford, C. (1973) J. Mol. Biol. 73, 165--184), have been reinvestigated. The fast reaction has the major amplitude (78%) and is 100-fold faster than the slow reaction in these conditions (pH 7.2, 25 degrees C, 1.75 M guanidine hydrochloride). We show here that native cyt c is the product formed in the fast reaction as well as in the slow reaction. Two probes have been used to test for formation of native cyt c. absorbance in the 695-nm band and rate of reduction of by L-ascorbate. Different unfolded species (UF, US) give rise to the fast and slow refolding reactions, as shown both by refolding assays at different times after unfolding (“double-jump” experiments) and by the formation of native cyt c in each of the fast and slow refolding reactions. Thus the fast refolding reaction is UF leads to N and the slow refolding reaction is Us leads to N, where N is native cyt c, and there is a US in equilibrium UF equilibrium in unfolded cyt c. The results are consistent with the UF in equilibrium US reaction being proline isomerization, but this has not yet been tested in detail. Folding intermediates have been detected in both reactions. In the UF leads to N reaction, the Soret absorbance change precedes the recovery of the native 695-nm band spectrum, showing that Soret absorbance monitors the formation of a folding intermediate. In the US leads to N reaction an ascorbate-reducible intermediate has been found at an early stage in folding and the Soret absorbance change occurs together with the change at 695 nm as N is formed in the final stage of folding.

Abstract: Equilibrium, stopped flow, and temperature-jump spectrophotometry have been used to identify processes in the unfolding of ferricytochrome c in acidic aqueous solutions. A relaxation occurring in approximately 100 microseconds involves perturbation of a spin-equilibrium between two folded conformers of the protein with methionine-80 coordinated or dissociated from the heme iron. The protein unfolds more slowly, in milliseconds, with dissociation and protonation of histidine-18. These two transitions appear cooperative in equilibrium measurements at low (0.01 M) ionic strength, but are separated at higher (0.10 M) ionic strength. They are resolved under both conditions in the dynamic measurements. The spin-equilibrium description permits a unified explanation of a number of properties of ferricytochrome c in acidic aqueous solutions.

Abstract: The alkaline transition of cytochrome c is a model for protein structural switching in which the normal heme ligand is replaced by another group. Stopped flow data following a jump to high pH detect two slow kinetic phases, suggesting two rate-limiting structure changes. Results described here indicate that these events are controlled by the same structural unfolding reactions that account for the first two steps in the reversible unfolding pathway of cytochrome c. These and other results show that the cooperative folding-unfolding behavior of protein foldons can account for a variety of functional activities in addition to determining folding pathways.