Mössbauer effect in Scenedesmus and spinach ferredoxins. The mechanism of electron transfer in plant-type iron–sulphur proteins

Abstract

1. The Mössbauer spectra of Scenedesmus ferredoxin enriched in 57Fe were measured and found to be identical with those of two other plant-type ferredoxins (from spinach and Euglena) that had been previously measured. Better resolved Mössbauer spectra of spinach ferredoxin are also reported from protein enriched in 57Fe. All these iron–sulphur proteins are known to contain two iron atoms in a molecule that takes up one electron on reduction. 2. The Mössbauer spectra at 195°K have electric hyperfine structure only and show that on reduction the electron goes to one of the iron atoms, the other appearing to remain unchanged. 3. In the oxidized state, both iron atoms are in a similar chemical state, which appears from the chemical shift and quadrupole splitting to be high-spin Fe3+, but they are in slightly different environments. In the reduced state the iron atoms are different and the molecule appears to contain one high-spin Fe2+ and one high-spin Fe3+ atom. 4. At lower temperatures (77 and 4.2°K) the spectra of both iron atoms in the reduced proteins show magnetic hyperfine structure which suggests that the iron in the oxidized state also has unpaired electrons. This provides experimental evidence for earlier suggestions that in the oxidized state there is antiferromagnetic exchange coupling, which would result in a low value for the magnetic susceptibility. 5. In a small magnetic field the spectrum of the reduced ferredoxin shows a Zeeman splitting with hyperfine field (Hn) of 180kG at the nuclei. On application of a strong magnetic field H the spectrum splits into two spectra with effective fields Hn±H, thus confirming the presence of the two antiferromagnetically coupled iron atoms. 6. These results are in agreement with the model proposed by Gibson, Hall, Thornley & Whatley (1966); in the oxidized state there are two Fe3+ atoms (high spin) antiferromagnetically coupled and on reduction of the ferredoxin by one electron one of the ferric atoms becomes Fe2+ (high spin).