Energy transfer from tryptophan residues to pyridoxal 5'-phosphate at the active site of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

Forster's mechanism of radiationless energy transfer has been used to estimate average distance between tryptophan residues and pyridoxal 5'-phosphate bound at the active site of spinach ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. This distance was found to depend on the activity of the enzyme and was 29 A for a freshly purified enzyme (activity 1.7 mu moles CO2 fixed/min/mg protein) and 37 A for a 6 week old enzyme stored at 4 degrees C (activity 0.07 mu moles CO2 fixed/min/mg protein).