Spectroscopic forms of carbonmonoxi-cytochrome oxidase.

A systematic study of the errors of low-temperature recording of kinetics of the cytochrome oxidase-CO reaction had identified the classic devitrification process of Keilin & Hartree [(1950) Nature (London)165, 504-505]. The methodology described here minimizes this effect, and the computation methods afford appropriate ways of detecting a residual effect. Thus it has been possible to identify that absorption difference spectra and kinetics of the reaction of fully reduced or half-reduced cytochrome oxidase with CO indicate only one spectroscopic form of the respective carbonmonoxi-cytochrome oxidase.