Separate binding sites for antimycin and mucidin in the respiratory chain of the bacterium Paracoccus denitrificans and their occurrence in other denitrificans bacteria.

By means of the method of fluorimetric titration it has been shown that mucidin does not affect the attachment of antimycin to membranes from anaerobically grown Paracoccus denitrificans. The fluorimetric titration with antimycin can be used in the determination of the amount of the cytochrome bc1 complex in the membrane. In cells inhibited with antimycin, the oxidation of cytochromes c was accompanied by the reduction of cytochrome b; in the presence of mucidin this effect did not take place. The results, which indicated a difference in binding sites, were interpreted in terms of the Q-cycle [Mitchell (1976) J. Theor. Biol. 62, 327-367; Trumpower (1981) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 639, 129-155]. Comparable sensitivity towards antimycin and mucidin was shown by other typical denitrifying bacteria: Pseudomonas stutzeri and Alcaligenes xylosoidans, subspecies denitrificans.