Measurement of ferredoxin-dependent sulfite reductase activity in crude extracts from leaves using O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase in a coupled assay system to measure the sulfide formed.

Ferredoxin-dependent sulfite reductase (EC 1.8.7.1) catalyses the reduction of sulfite to sulfide, using reduced ferredoxin as an electron donor. An assay system was developed for measuring this enzyme activity in crude extracts and broken chloroplast preparations from leaves. The assay consists of a coupled system in which the sulfide formed is used for cysteine synthesis by added O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase (EC 4.2.99.8). Cysteine thus formed is determined with ninhydrin under conditions where O-acetylserine does not react and serves as a measure for ferredoxin-dependent sulfite reductase activity. Cysteine synthesized in the assay can be determined from 10 to 200 nmol. One assay per minute can be performed.