Identification of specific carboxylate groups on adrenodoxin that are involved in the interaction with adrenodoxin reductase.

Modification of bovine adrenodoxin with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) dramatically inhibited the reaction with adrenodoxin reductase (EC 1.18.1.2). The modification did not cause any change in the visible spectrum of adrenodoxin, indicating that the iron-sulfur center was not perturbed. Furthermore, the anomalous fluorescence of Tyr 82 was not changed in either intensity or wavelength. The inhibition was accompanied by the covalent incorporation of 14C-labeled EDC into adrenodoxin. The sites modified by EDC were determined by hydrolyzing adrenodoxin with either trypsin or Staphylococcus aureus protease and separating the resulting peptides by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography. The major carboxyl groups modified were found to be at Glu 74, Asp 79, and Asp 86, which are located in a sequence containing a high negative charge density. We propose that the conversion of negatively charged carboxylate groups at these residues to bulky, positively charged EDC-carboxyl groups inhibits the reaction with the reductase. EDC was also found to cross-link adrenodoxin to cytochrome c in yields up to 90%. The cross-links were found to involve the formation of amide linkages between carboxyl groups on adrenodoxin and the lysine amino groups surrounding the heme crevice of cytochrome c.