Kannt A, Soulimane T, Buse G, Becker A, Bamberg E, Michel H
Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysik, Abteilung Molekulare Membranbiologie, Frankfurt/M., Germany.
FEBS Lett. 1998 Aug 28;434(1-2):17-22. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)00942-9.
Several amino acid residues that have been shown to be essential for proton transfer in most cytochrome c oxidases are not conserved in the ba3-type cytochrome c oxidase from the thermophilic eubacterium Thermus thermophilus. So far, it has been unclear whether the Th. thermophilus ba3-type cytochrome c oxidase can nevertheless function as an electrogenic proton pump. In this study, we have combined charge translocation measurements on a lipid bilayer with two independent methods of proton pumping measurements to show that enzymatic turnover of the Th. thermophilus cytochrome c oxidase is indeed coupled to the generation of an electrocurrent and proton pumping across the membrane. In addition to a 'vectorial' consumption of 1.0 H+/e- for water formation, proton pumping with a stoichiometry of 0.4-0.5 H+/e- was observed. The implications of these findings for the mechanism of redox-coupled proton transfer in this unusual cytochrome c oxidase are discussed.
