HEME AND TISSUE IRON

1. A method is described for estimating the heme in yeast and bees'' muscles as pyridine hemochromogen. 2. The difficulties of the method are discussed. 3. The heme as given by the pyridine method is responsible for about 40 per cent of the total iron.     

ON HEMOCHROMOGEN

1. Every hemochromogen consists of the iron pyrrol complex, reduced heme, combined with some nitrogenous substance. 2. In every hemochromogen there is the equilibrium: Hemochromogen ⇄ Reduced heme + Nitrogenous substance. 3. Cyanide can form two distinct compounds with reduced heme, one of which is the typical hemochromogen, cyan-hemochromogen. 4. Reduced heme in alkaline solution has a great affinity for cyanide. 5. Cyan-hemochromogen probably contains one cyanide group per heme. 6. The hemochromogen prepared from hemoglobin is a compound of denatured globin and reduced heme. 7. The individual molecule of denatured globin, of hypothetical molecular weight 16,700, can convert at least 10 molecules of reduced heme into hemochromogen. 8. The hemochromogen-forming capacity of globin is, under given conditions, greater than that of edestin, which in turn, is greater than that of zein.     

The hemoprotein content of Chromatium sp. strain D

1. The hemoprotein content of autotrophic Chromatium strain D has been measured from difference spectra, using solvent-extracted and intact cells.

2. The quantities of the individual cytochromes were estimated by absorbance differences at single wavelengths and by peak-trough differences in spectra obtained from reduced versus oxidized, and CO-treated reduced versus reduced preparations. The concentrations found in intact cells weer 1.15, 0.49 and 0.56 nmoles heme per mg protein for cytochromes c₅₅₃, cc′ and , respectively. In intact cells, the corresponding values were 1.33, 0.47 and 0.67 nmoles heme per mg protein.

3. The mesoheme content of the cells, estimated as pyridine hemochromogen, was 2.08 nmoles heme per mg protein, while the amount of protoheme was negligible.     

Spectral and molecular properties of peanut peroxidase isozymes

Properties of four peroxidase isozymes derived from peanut cells were examined. Electrophoresis on various concentrations of polyacrylamide gel indicated that they had the same molecular size. Filtration on Sephadex G-200 gels indicated the same Stoke's radius for all 4 isozymes. They had the same spectral properties in the oxidized, reduced and CO-reduced the pyridine hemochromogen forms, but they differed with regard to heat stability at 50° and 70° and their substrate specificity.     

Characterization of heme protein expressed by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria under low dissolved oxygen conditions

We have recently reported that expression of an unidentified heme protein is enhanced in a nitrifying activated sludge community under low (0.1 mg O₂/L) dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions. A preliminary assessment suggested it may be a type of hemoglobin (Hb) or a lesser-known component of the energy-transducing pathways of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) (particularly an oxidase or peroxidase). Here, additional work was done to characterize this protein. Due to the unfeasibility of identifying the protein using gene-based methods, our approach was to carry out assays that target the activity and function of the protein, its location in the cell, and determination of the organisms that express it. Using CO-difference spectra, it was shown that the protein is expressed by AOB preferentially in the cytoplasm, while the pyridine hemochromogen method demonstrated that it has heme c as its prosthetic group. Peroxidase and oxidase assays were carried out on the soluble fraction of the low DO-grown cells; neither the peroxidase nor oxidase activities matched those of the CO-binding heme protein detected. Even though it is not possible to conclusively identify the protein detected as a Hb, all other known possibilities have been ruled out. Further work is needed to verify the identity of the heme protein as a Hb and to determine its type and biochemical role under low oxygen conditions.     

Metabolism of Pipecolic Acid in a Pseudomonas Species IV. Electron Transport Particle of Pseudomonas putida

Baginsky, Marietta L. (University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco), and Victor W. Rodwell. Metabolism of pipecolic acid in a Pseudomonas species. IV. Electron transport particle of Pseudomonas putida. J. Bacteriol. 92:424-432. 1966.-Enzymes of Pseudomonas putida P2 catalyzing oxidation of pipecolate to Delta(1)-piperideine-6-carboxylate are located in a subcellular fraction sedimenting at 105,000 x g. Since this fraction resembles the mammalian electron transport particle in both chemical composition and enzymatic activities, it was termed Pseudomonas P2 electron transport particle (P2-ETP). P2-ETP contains flavin adenine dinucleotide, flavin mononucleotide, iron, copper, and both b- and c-type cytochromes. The reduced type b cytochrome has absorption maxima at 558 to 559, 530, and 427 mmu. Its oxidized pyridine hemochromogen has an absorption maximum at 406 mmu, with a shoulder at 564 mmu. On dithionite reduction, absorption bands with maxima at 556, 522, and 418 mmu are obtained. The reduced type c cytochrome has absorption maxima at 552, 520, and 422 mmu; its reduced pyridine hemochromogen has maxima at 551, 516 to 519, and 418 mmu. No type a cytochrome was detected. P2-ETP catalyzes oxidation of pipecolate and of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH(2)) by oxygen. It can also oxidize these compounds, as well as succinate and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, with 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol as electron acceptor. Mammalian cytochrome c can be used as an alternate artificial electron acceptor for the oxidation of pipecolate and succinate, but not for oxidation of NADH(2).     

Coulometric and spectroscopic analysis of the purified cytochrome d complex of Escherichia coli: evidence for the identification of "cytochrome a1" as cytochrome b595

Coulometric and spectroscopic analyses were performed on the three cytochrome components (cytochrome d, cytochrome b558, and the cytochrome previously described as cytochrome a1) of the purified cytochrome d complex, a terminal oxidase of the Escherichia coli aerobic respiratory chain. On the basis of heme extraction, spectroscopic, and coulometric data, the "cytochrome a1" component was identified as a b-type cytochrome: cytochrome b595. The pyridine hemochromogen technique revealed the presence of two molecules of protoheme IX per cytochrome d complex. This quantity of protoheme IX fully accounted for the sum of the cytochrome b558 and cytochrome b595 components as determined coulometrically. The renaming of cytochrome a1 as cytochrome b595 was further indicated by the lack of any heme a in the complex and by its resolved reduced-minus-oxidized spectrum. The latter was found to be similar to that of cytochrome c peroxidase, which contains protoheme IX. Coulometric titrations and carbon monoxide binding titrations revealed that there are two molecules of cytochrome d per complex. A convenient measurement of the amount of cytochrome b558 was found to be the beta-band at 531 nm since cytochrome b558 was observed to be the only component of the cytochrome d complex with a peak at this wavelength. By use of this method and the extinction coefficient for the purified cytochrome b558, it was estimated that there is one molecule of cytochrome b595 and one of cytochrome b558 per cytochrome complex.     

Effects of iron deficiency and chronic iron overloading on mitochondrial heme biosynthetic enzymes in rat liver

The effects of iron deficiency and iron overloading on the mitochondrial enzymes involved in heme synthesis were studied in rat livers. The in vitro activities of several of the enzymes in this pathway were differentially influenced by the in vivo iron status of the animals. delta-Aminolevulinic acid synthase was slightly increased in iron-overloaded animals, but remained normal in iron-deficient animals (0.58 +/- 0.09, 0.91 +/- 0.19 and 0.61 +/- 0.12 nmol delta-aminolevulinic acid/mg per h). Copro- and protoporphyrinogen oxidase activities were increased (20 and 60% above controls) in iron-deficient animals. In contrast, coproporphyrinogen oxidase was decreased by 20%, while protoporphyrinogen oxidase remained unchanged in iron-overloaded rats. These variations of activities were not due to changes in the affinity of these enzymes toward their substrates, as coporphyrinogen had the same Km in each case (0.62 +/- 0.05 M) as did protoporphyrinogen (0.22 +/- 0.035 M). Thus, the Km did not vary with the treatment received by the animals. Ferrochelatase activity was measured by both the pyridine hemochromogen method and by measurement of zinc protoporphyrin with endogenous zinc as substrate. In all cases, ferrochelatase was found to be able to synthesize zinc protoporphyrin with endogenous zinc as substrate. However, the apparent Km of zinc chelatase for protoporphyrin was significantly different in the three groups of animals with Km,appProto, app = 2.4 +/- 0.1 10(-7), 4 +/- 0.3 10(-7) and 9.10 +/- 0.05 10(-7) M in iron-overloaded, control and iron-deficient animals, respectively. When ferrochelatase activity was measured by pyridine hemochromogen, identical results were observed in iron-deficient and control animals but decreased by 45% in iron-overloaded animals. The mitochondrial heme content was also decreased by 40% in iron-overloaded rats but unchanged in either iron-deficient or control rats.     

Myeloperoxidase of the leukocyte of normal blood. Nature of the prosthetic group of myeloperoxidase

The absorption spectra of alkaline pyridine hemochrome of myeloperoxidase in its native, acid, and modified forms were similar to those of heme a, and the molar extinction coefficient of myeloperoxidase heme was very similar to that of heme a, assuming that myeloperoxidase contains only one heme. The anaerobic titration of myeloperoxidase with dithionite showed that one electron was consumed per molecule of the enzyme for its conversion to its reduced form. The EPR spectrum of myeloperoxidase indicated that the enzyme contains both high-spin heme and non-heme iron. Carbonyl reagents, such as borohydride, hydrazine, and benzhydrazide, reacted with myeloperoxidase, causing blue shifts in its absorption spectrum. The heme was labeled with a tritium of boro[3H]hydride, suggesting that the reagents reacted with a formyl group on the porphyrin ring of the myeloperoxidase heme. When hydrazine was added to cyanide complex I of myeloperoxidase the complex was converted to the hydrazine-enzyme compound. Myeloperoxidase reacted with bisulfite to form a compound with an absorption spectrum similar to that of cyanide complex I. Borohydride-treated myeloperoxidase formed only one cyanide complex, while the native enzyme formed two different cyanide complexes, I (Kd = 0.3 muM) and II (approximate Kd = 0.1 mM). The EPR spectrum indicated that cyanide complex I of myeloperoxidase still contained high-spin heme. The results suggested that cyanide complex I and the bisulfite compound of myeloperoxidase were adducts between the nucleophilic reagents and the formyl group of myeloperoxidase heme. Based on these results, we concluded that one of the two iron atoms in a myeloperoxidase molecule exists in a formyl-heme moiety similar to heme a and the other exists as a non-heme iron.     

Purification and properties of a major cytochrome b peptide from baker's yeast.

A major cytochrome b peptide was purified from yeast mitochondria by a procedure involving solubilization in deoxycholic and cholic acids, ammonium sulfate fractionation, proteolytic digestion, and sucrose gradient centrifugation in the presence of Tween 80. The homogeneity of the purified protein was established by the criteria that the product was spectrally pure and yielded a single band on both sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and by gel isoelectric focusing. The purified cytochrome b polypeptide had absorption maxima at 562, 532, and 430 nm in the reduced form and at 525 to 570 nm and 419 nm in the oxidized form. The reduced minus oxidized difference spectra revealed absorption bands at 562, 532, and 430 nm at room temperature and 559, 529, and 429 nm at 77 K, respectively. The heme group was identified as protoheme by formation of the reduced pyridine hemochromogen. Treatment of the reduced form with carbon monoxide affected the absorption spectrum, indicating that the isolated hemoprotein was modified compared to native cytochrome b. The apparent molecular weight of the preparation was 28,000 based on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and 28,800 based on sucrose gradient centrifugation. The isolated cytochrome b polypeptide showed a strong tendency to aggregate.     

Microsomal cytochrome P-450 from neonatal pig testis. Purification and properties of A C21 steroid side-chain cleavage system (17 alpha-hydroxylase-C17,20 lyase)

A cytochrome P-450 from neonatal pig testicular microsomes was purified to homogeneity as judged by electrophoresis on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels and by double diffusion on agar against antiserum raised in rabbits against the protein. The enzyme shows both 17 alpha-hydroxylase (Vmax = 4.6 nmol of product/min/nmol of P-450, Km = 1.5 microM) and C17,20 lyase (Vmax = 2.6 nmol of product/min/nmol of P-450, Km = 2.4 microM) activities. Both activities require NADPH and a flavoprotein P-450 reductase; microsomal P-450 reductase from pig and rat livers was used in these studies. The enzyme possesses a single subunit of molecular weight 59,000 +/- 1,000 as determined by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide with sodium dodecyl sulfate and by chromatography on sodium dodecyl sulfate-Sephadex. The enzyme is a glycoprotein and contains 8 nmol of heme/mg of protein and 40 nmol of phospholipid/mg of protein. All heme detected by pyridine hemochromogen is accounted for as P-450 by difference spectroscopy of the reduced P-450.carbon monoxide complex. This complex shows an absorbance maximum at 448 nm with no evidence of P-420. These studies raise the possibility that one microsomal protein (cytochrome P-450) may possess two enzymatic activities (hydroxylase and lyase).     

Cytochrome a3 deficiency in human achondroplasia

Mitochondria prepared from tissue culture cells (skin fibroblasts) from normal subjects and subjects with homozygous achondroplasia were studied to determine the concentrations of cytochromes a and a3 in the preparations. Cytochrome a3 was markedly decreased (80%) in the achondroplastic preparations with cytochrome a present in normal amounts. Determination of total heme a (as the pyridine hemochromogen) in the normal and achondroplastic preparations demonstrated that the observed decrease in concentration of cytochrome a3 in the achondroplastic preparations was due to an absence of cytochrome a3 and not to a change in its absorbancy (extinction coefficient). The decreased concentrations of cytochrome a3 in the achondroplastic cells may decrease the reactivity or affinity of the mitochondrial oxidative systems for oxygen and result in the phenotypic expression of the disease.     

Purification and characterization of hydroperoxidase II of Escherichia coli B.

The second heme-containing hydroperoxidase isozyme (HP-II) has been isolated from aerobic cultures of Escherichia coli B. The protein exists as a stable tetramer of subunits of equal size, with a combined molecular weight of 312,000. The heme spectrum of HP-II is unusual, in that it exhibits two absorbance maxima at 407 and 591 nm; the alkaline pyridine hemochromogen spectrum shows maxima at 425, 559, and 609 nm. HP-II differs in several respects from the HP-I isozyme previously reported (Claiborne, A., and Fridovich, I. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 4245-4252). Thus HP-II is virtually devoid of peroxidatic activity toward o-dianisidine but has a 6-fold higher catalatic activity than HP-I. Antisera to HP-II do not cross-react with HP-I, and analyses of chymotryptic and cyanogen bromide digests suggest differences in primary structure between these two isozymes.     

Reversible oxygenation of heme bound to polyvinylpyridine and polyvinylimidazole

The interaction between heme bound to poly-4-vinylpyridine (PVP) or poly-N-vinyl-2-methylimidazole (PVMI) and molecular oxygen (O₂) was studied. In this paper, the reactions of some types of heme with O₂ in organic solvents, particularly in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) were discussed. The free heme not bound to an axial base was easily oxidized irreversibly to hemin in DMF with bubbled O₂. The hemochromogens complexed with pyridine, imidazole, or their polymeric derivatives such as PVP and PVMI bound O₂ to one of the axial coordination sites. The characteristic absorption band assignable to the resulting oxygenated heme was observed at 402 nm. This absorption band could be changed back to the characteristic band of the reduced hemochromogen at 418 nm by removing O₂ dissolved in the DMF solution by a vacuum or by a stream of nitrogen. Thus, the hemochromogens bound to the synthetic polymers were found to adsorb and desorb O₂ reversible in DMF. When the polymeric ligands were used, the equilibrium constants in the complexation of heme with these polymers were about 10² times as large as those of the corresponding monomeric ligands. The oxygenation rates and the capacities of O₂ of the polymeric hemochromogens were larger than those of the monomeric hemochromogens. In addition, the oxygenation rate of the polymer complex was changeable owing to the conformational change of the polymeric ligand; this rate increased about ten times under the optimal condition.     

Contributions of mean temperature and temperature variation to population stability and community diversity

Future climate changes are predicted to not only increase global temperatures but also alter temporal variation in temperature. As thermal tolerances form an important component of a species’ niche, changes to the temperature regime have the capacity to negatively impact species, and therefore, the diversity of the communities they inhabit. In this study, we used protist microcosms to assess how mean temperature, as well as temporal variation in temperature, affected diversity. Communities consisted of seven species in a multitrophic food web. Each ecosystem was inoculated with the same abundances of each species at the start of the experiment, and species densities, Hill''s numbers (based on Shannon diversity), the number of extinctions, and the probability the microcosm contained predators were all calculated at the end of the experiment. To assess how mean temperature and temperature fluctuations affect stability, we also measured population densities through time. We found that increased temporal variation in temperature increased final densities, increased Hill''s numbers (at low mean temperatures), decreased rates of extinctions, and increased the probability that predators survived till the end of the experiment. Mean temperatures did not significantly affect either the number of extinctions or the probability of predators, but did reduce the positive effect of increased temporal variation in temperature on overall diversity. Our results indicate that climatic changes have the potential to impact the composition of ecological communities by altering multiple components of temperature regimes. However, given that some climate forecasts are predicting increased mean temperatures and reduced variability, our finding that increased mean temperature and reduced temporal variation are both generally associated with negative consequences is somewhat concerning.     

An unusual hemoprotein capable of reversible binding of nitric oxide from the gram-positive Bacillus halodenitrificans

A green protein from the soluble extract of anaerobically grown Bacillus halodenitrificans cells was purified and determined by non-denaturing procedures or SDS-PAGE to have a molecular mass of 64 kDa. The pyridine hemochromogen was shown to be that of a b-type cytochrome prosthetic group that was soluble in ether. The protein contained 6.2mol protoheme per mol protein^-1. Photoreduction of the native protein yielded a product with an electronic absorption spectrum retaining the 559 nm maximum and the 424-nm Soret band displayed in the dithionite-reduced sample. Incubation of a reduced sample in the presence of air failed to return it to the original oxidation state. Electronic spin was not affected by pH. The reduced but not the oxidized form of the cytochrome bound cyanide, carbon monoxide, and nitric oxide, providing spectra resembling those of cytochromes c from several sources. Addition of nitroprusside to the reduced protein yielded a spectrum similar to that of the NO reacted protein. Nitric oxide failed to reduce the green protein. The position of the Soret band in the spectrum of the nitric oxide derivative of the green protein suggested a fifth-coordinate nitrosylheme structure. EPR studies provided g values with the triplet spectral pattern consistent with a five-coordinate ferrous nitrosyl heme. Flushing of the NO-derivative with argon and overnight exposure to air returned the nitrosylheme to the ferric form, and EPR values confirmed the reversion. All these spectral characterizations are strikingly similar to those of soluble guanylate cyclase, including the observation that NO was reversibly bound to the protein. EPR spectra of whole cells also displayed the hyperfine lines typical of a nitrosyl-ferrous heme, accentuated when dithionite was added. In the absence of a definitive physiological role because of its unusual properties, the green protein was named a nitric oxide-binding protein.Abbreviations PMS Phenazine methosulfate - PMSF Phenylmethyl sulfonyl fluoride - SOD Super oxide dismutase - EPR Electron paramagnetic resonance - GP Green protein Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland Univeristy, Rochester, MI 48309-4401     

Tetrapyrrole utilization by protoheme-synthesizing anaerobes

Protoheme-synthesizing anaerobic bacteria were grown in the presence of metal-free deuteroporphyrin IX or selected metal chelates of deuteroporphyrin IX to determine whether anaerobes that synthesize protoheme-containing cytochrome b de novo would use preformed tetrapyrroles. Characteristic reduced versus oxidized difference spectra of whole cells and pyridine hemochromogen spectra revealed thatSelenomonas ruminantium subsp.lactilytica andBacteroides succinogenes synthesized protoheme-containing b-type cytochromes de novo during growth in the presence of the manganese or magnesium chelates of deuteroporphyrin IX, but thatBacteroides ruminicola subsp.brevis synthesized deuteroheme-containing cytochrome b under the same conditions. During growth of the latter organism in the presence of the vanadium, molybdenum, cobalt, or nickel chelates of deuteroporphyrin, protoheme cytochrome b was formed.Bacteroides ruminicola subsp.brevis had a unique and metal-specific ability to use preformed tetrapyrroles for cytochrome synthesis; that ability was absent in other cytochrome-synthesizing rumen bacteria.     

Nature of the inhibition of horseradish peroxidase and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase by cyanyl radical

Previous studies established that the cyanyl radical ((*)CN), detected as 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO)/(*)CN by the electron spin resonance (ESR) spin-trapping technique, can be generated by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and by mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) in the absence of H(2)O(2). To investigate the mechanism of inhibition by cyanyl radical, we isolated and characterized the iron protoporphyrin IX and heme a from the reactions of CN(-) with HRP and CcO, respectively. The purified heme from the reaction mixture of HRP/H(2)O(2)/KCN was unambiguously identified as cyanoheme by the observation of the protonated molecule, (M + H)(+), of m/z = 642.9 in the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrum. The proton NMR spectrum of the bipyridyl ferrous cyanoheme complex revealed that one of the four meso protons was missing and had been replaced with a cyanyl group, indicating that the single, heme-derived product was meso-cyanoheme. The holoenzyme of HRP from the reconstitution of meso-cyanoheme with the apoenzyme of HRP (apoHRP) showed no detectable catalytic activity. The Soret peak of cyanoheme-reconstituted apoHRP was shifted to 411 nm from the 403 nm peak of native HRP. In contrast, the heme a isolated from partially or fully inhibited CcO did not show any change in the structure of the protoporphyrin IX as indicated by its MALDI mass spectrum, which showed an (M + H)(+) of m/z = 853.6, and by its pyridine hemochromogen spectrum. However, a protein-centered radical on the CcO can be detected in the reaction of CcO with cyanide and was identified as the thiyl radical(s) based on inhibition of its formation by N-ethylmaleimide pretreatment, suggesting that the protein matrix rather than protoporphyrin IX was attacked by the cyanyl radical. In addition to the difference in heme structures between HRP and CcO, the available crystallographic data also suggested that the distinct heme environments may contribute to the different inhibition mechanisms of HRP and CcO by cyanyl radical.     

Mitochondrial biogenesis during fungal spore germination: respiratory cytochromes of dormant and germinating spores of Botryodiplodia.

The mitochondrial respiratory cytochrome contents of dormant and germinating conidia of Botryodiplodia theobromae were examined. Oxidized versus reduced difference spectra at 77 degrees K of whole mitochondria from physiologically mature germinated spores showed a typical a-band pattern for cytochromes c, b, and a, with absorption maxima at 549, 554 + 559, and 604 nm, respectively, whereas the difference spectrum of the counterpart mitochondrial fraction from dormant spores showed no cytochrome a bands. However, a fraction prepared from dormant spore mitochondria by detergent extraction and (NH4)2SO4 fractionation contained readily detectable quantities of cytochromes c and b (as shown by the a and Soret absorption bands), but it did not contain the a or Soret bands of cytochrome a observed in a counterpart preparation from germinated spores. The pyridine hemochromogen preparation from the dormant spore mitochondria contained no material that is spectroscopically characteristic of a-type heme and protoheme. These results suggest that cytochrome a is not present as a functional molecule in dormant spores. The first spectroscopically detectable cytochromes were observed in whole mitochondria at 210 min of spore germination, and the amount of each of the cytochromes increased with cell growth. A precursor of the heme porphyrin, delta-[4-14C]aminolevulinic acid, was first incorporated (at accelerating rates) into acid-insoluble spore material at 180 min of germination, which appears to be the approximate time of organization of new mitochondria in these spores.     

Cytochrome c reductase purified from Crithidia fasciculata contains an atypical cytochrome c1.

Cytochrome c reductase purified from the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata retained antimycin A sensitivity and catalyzed the reduction of horse heart ferricytochrome c in the presence of reduced coenzyme Q10. The complex contained heme b and heme c1 in a ratio of 2:1. Nine major protein bands ranging in size from 55.3 to approximately 12.8 kDa were resolved by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A 31.6-kDa protein was identified as cytochrome c1 by the presence of a covalently attached heme. A red shift in the alpha-absorbance band of the cytochrome c1 absolute absorbance spectrum, difference absorbance spectrum, and pyridine ferrohemochrome absorbance spectrum suggested that the heme prosthetic group of C. fasciculata cytochrome c1 is bound to the apoprotein through only one thioether bond. A fragment of the cytochrome c1 gene was amplified from C. fasciculata, Trypanosoma brucei, Leishmania tarentolae, and Bodo caudatus. The deduced heme binding site sequence of each of these kinetoplastid species, Phe-Ala-Pro-Cys-His, contains a phenylalanine rather that a cysteine at the first position so that only one thioether bond can be formed between heme and apoprotein. This phenylalanine substitution and the presence of a conserved proline in the sequence may represent compensatory changes that are necessary for optimal interaction of the cytochromes c1 with the atypical cytochromes c of these species.