Resonance Raman spectra of cytochrome oxidase. Evidence for photoreduction by laser photons in resonance with the Soret band.

Resonance Raman spectra of cytochrome oxidase solubilized in Tween 20 and sodium cholate, and excited at 413.1 nm have been recorded. Differences in the resonance Raman spectra of the two preparations are minimal indicating that the local environment of the hemes is similar in the two preparations. As in the work of Salmeen, et al. (1973) (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 52, 1100) the strongest band appears at 1358 cm-1. Some of the other bands differ slightly in their band shapes and frequencies when compared to their spectra; these differences can be accounted for by differences in resonance enhancement of the various bands wnen exciting at 441.6 and 413.1 nm. A study of the region from 1350 to 1380 cm-1 as a function of laser intensity (10--130 mW on sample) indicate that the doublet reported by Salmeen, et al. at 1358 and 1372 cm-1 is a result of photoreduction of the preparations. In samples to which potassium ferricyanide had been added, broad luminescence bands appear at 476 and 641 nm from which it is inferred that catalytic amounts of flavin in the preparations are photoreduced providing reducing equivalents to cytochrome oxidase.