Crystal Structure of the Electron Carrier Domain of the Reaction Center Cytochrome cz Subunit from Green Photosynthetic Bacterium Chlorobium tepidum

In green sulfur photosynthetic bacteria, the cytochrome cz (cyt cz) subunit in the reaction center complex mediates electron transfer mainly from menaquinol/cytochrome c oxidoreductase to the special pair (P840) of the reaction center. The cyt cz subunit consists of an N-terminal transmembrane domain and a C-terminal soluble domain that binds a single heme group. The periplasmic soluble domain has been proposed to be highly mobile and to fluctuate between oxidoreductase and P840 during photosynthetic electron transfer. We have determined the crystal structure of the oxidized form of the C-terminal functional domain of the cyt cz subunit (C-cyt cz) from thermophilic green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum at 1.3-Å resolution. The overall fold of C-cyt cz consists of four α-helices and is similar to that of class I cytochrome c proteins despite the low similarity in their amino acid sequences. The N-terminal structure of C-cyt cz supports the swinging mechanism previously proposed in relation with electron transfer, and the surface properties provide useful information on possible interaction sites with its electron transfer partners. Several characteristic features are observed for the heme environment: These include orientation of the axial ligands with respect to the heme plane, surface-exposed area of the heme, positions of water molecules, and hydrogen-bond network involving heme propionate groups. These structural features are essential for elucidating the mechanism for regulating the redox state of cyt cz.