Biological significance of methylation of cytochromes from ascomycetes and plants

The K_m and V_max values characterizing the reaction of baker's yeast iso-I-cytochrome c, whether tri-methylated or not at lysine residue 72, with crude preparations of cytochrome c peroxidase, cytochrome c oxidase and succinate cytochrome c oxidoreductase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae are similar. These results, as well as the redox potential values, the auto-oxidability parameters and the circular dichroism spectra, strongly suggest that the biological methylation of yeast cytochrome c does not alter its functional properties. The functional characteristics of baker's yeast iso-I-cytochrome c are similar to those of horse heart cytochrome c and yeast iso-2-cytochrome c.