1. Succinate-cytochrome c reductase activity was reconstituted by incubating a mixture of succinate dehydrogenase, cytochrome c1, ubiquinone-10, phospholipid and a preparation of cytochrome b, made by the method of
. 2. Preparations of cytochrome b active in reconstitution contained 5–28% native cytochrome b, as adjudged by reducibility with succinate in the reconstituted preparation and by lack of reaction with CO. Preparations of cytochrome b containing no native cytochrome b according to this criterion were inactive in reconstitution. 3. With a fixed amount of cytochrome b, the activity of the reconstituted preparation increased with increasing amounts of cytochrome c1 until a ratio of about 2b (total): 1c1 (allowing for the cytochrome c1 present in the cytochrome b preparation) was reached. 4. The amount of antimycin necessary for maximal inhibition of the reconstituted enzyme is a function of the amount of the cytochrome b and is independent of the amount of cytochrome c1. It is equal to about one half the amount of native cytochrome b. 5. Preparations of intact or reconstituted succinate-cytochrome c reductase or of cytochrome b completely quench the fluorescence of added antimycin, until an amount of antimycin equal to onehalf the amount of native cytochrome b present was added. Antimycin added in excess of this amount fluoresces with normal intensity. The quenching is only partial in the presence of Na2S2O4. Denatured cytochrome b does not quench the fluorescence. 6. Since preparations of cytochrome b active in reconstitution contained cytochrome c1 in an amount exceeding one half the amount of native cytochrome b present in the preparation, there is no evidence that native cytochrome b has been resolved from cytochrome c1. The stimulatory action of cytochrome c1 may be due to the restoration of a damaged membrane conformation. 7. Based on the assumption that the bc1 segment of the respiratory chain contains 2b:1c1:1 antimycin-binding sites, the specific quenching of antimycin fluorescence by binding to cytochrome b enables an accurate determination of the absorbance coefficients of cytochromes b and c1. These are 25.6 and 20.1 mM?1×cm?1 for the wavelength pairs 563–577 nm and 553–539 nm, respectively, in the difference spectrum reduced minus oxidized. |