Structure of the extracellular ferredoxin from Rhodospirillum rubrum: close similarity to clostridial ferredoxins.

The amino acid sequence of an [8Fe-8S] ferredoxin isolated from the culture medium of Rhodospirillum rubrum, a photosynthetic purple non-sulfur bacterium, was determined by a combination of various conventional procedures. The sequence was A-Y-K-I-E-E-T-C-I-S-C-G-A-C-A-A-E-C-P-V-N-A-I-E-Q-G-D-T-I-F-V-V-N-A-D-T-C-I-D-C - G-N-C-A-N-V-C-P-V-G-A-P-V-A-E (55 amino acid residues). It lacked methionine, leucine, histidine, arginine, and tryptophan. The molecular weight was calculated to be 5,568 excluding iron and sulfur atoms. The distribution of 8 cysteine residues was exactly the same as that of clostridial-type ferredoxin, suggesting retention of the duplication of the bacterial ancestral ferredoxin gene. The extracellular ferredoxin of R. rubrum was compared with other ferredoxins observed in closely related photosynthetic bacteria and the evolutionary significance of this ferredoxin is discussed.