Origin of the labile sulfide in the iron-sulfur proteins of Escherichia coli.

A method has been devised for measuring the abundance of sulfur-34 in the hydrogen sulfide released upon the acidification of Escherichia coli cells. Evidence is presented, based on the rate at which the hydrogen sulfide is released from the cells as well as the total amount released, that this hydrogen sulfide originates from the iron-sulfur proteins present in the cells. The sulfur-34 abundance in this hydrogen sulfide which was isolated from cells grown with [sulfane-34S] thiocystine, a compound which can differentially label in vivo the sulfur-34 abundance of cysteine and hydrogen sulfide, shows cysteine sulfur and not hydrogen sulfide to be the origin of the sulfide sulfur of iron-sulfur proteins in aerobically grown E. coli.