The isolation and characterization of a new iron-sulfur protein from photosynthetic membranes.

A new iron-sulfur protein, distinct from the soluble chloroplast ferredoxin, was isolated from chloroplast membranes. The isolated protein, purified to homogeneity, had a molecular weight of about 8000 and 4 atoms of iron and 4 inorganic sulfides per mole. Its absorption spectrum had a broad absorbance band in the 400 nm region, a shoulder at approximately 310 nm, and a peak around 280 nm. The absorbance ratio A(400) to A(280) was 0.55. The electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum (measured at 12 degrees K) of the reduced protein was similar to that of other reduced iron-sulfur proteins, showing a major resonance line at g = 1.94. The isolated protein, when photoreduced by spinach chloroplasts, can in turn transfer electrons to mammalian cytochrome c. However, the photoreduced protein cannot replace soluble ferredoxin in NADP(+) reduction because of its apparent inability to interact with the chloroplast enzyme, ferredoxin-NADP(+) reductase. The relation of the isolated iron-sulfur protein to the bound ferredoxin that acts as the primary electron acceptor in Photosystem I is discussed.