Selective resonance Raman observation of the "607 nm" form generated in the reaction of oxidized cytochrome c oxidase with hydrogen peroxide.

Resonance Raman spectra were measured selectively for the "607 nm" form, which had been assigned to a peroxy intermediate formed in the reaction of oxidized cytochrome c oxidase with hydrogen peroxide at ambient temperature. A single oxygen isotope-sensitive band was found at 803 cm-1 for the reaction with H2(16)O2 (at 769 cm-1 with H2(18)O2) upon excitation at 607 nm, the wavelength of the difference absorption maximum characteristic of the "peroxy" intermediate. Upon excitation at shorter wavelengths (down to 580 nm), the Raman spectrum simply became weaker without yielding any new features. When H2(16)O18O was used, two bands were observed at 803 and 769 cm-1 (within an accuracy of 0.5 cm-1), but with only half the intensity of those observed with H2(16)O2 or H2(18)O2, which ruled out the possibility that the 803 cm-1 band arose from the O-O or Fe-O2 stretching of the FeIII(O-O-) heme. Conversely, the 34-cm-1 downshift with 18O is in good agreement with the calculated 16O/18O shift (35 cm-1) expected for the diatomic Fe = 16O oscillator at 803 cm-1. This band exhibited an upshift by 1.3 cm-1 in 2H2O, similar to the case of compound II of horseradish peroxidase at neutral pH, and indicative of the presence of a hydrogen bond to the FeIV = O oxygen. The 803/769 cm-1 pair of resonance Raman bands were also observed upon blue excitation, as is the case for the bands found in the dioxygen cycle of this enzyme (Ogura, T., Takahashi, S., Hirota, S., Shinzawa-Itoh, K., Yoshikawa, S., Appelman, E. H., and Kitagawa, T. (1993) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 115, 8527-8536). This observation provides the first direct characterization of the 607 nm form of this enzyme in its reaction with H2O2.