The electronic structure of [Fe4S4]3+ clusters in proteins. An investigation of the oxidized high-potential iron-sulfur protein II from Ectothiorhodospira vacuolata.

Within the framework of an investigation of the electronic structure of oxidized high-potential iron-sulfur proteins (HiPIP), we have studied the HiPIP II from Ectothiorhodospira vacuolata, which was known to have a peculiar temperature dependence of the 1H NMR isotropic hyperfine shifts. The signals of the cysteine ligand protons have been sequence specifically assigned through NOE, NOESY, and TOCSY experiments. Nine hyperfine-shifted signals are observed: seven in the downfield and two in the upfield region. They have been assigned to the eight beta-CH2 protons of the four coordinated cysteines and to one alpha-CH cysteine proton. The two most downfield-shifted signals belong to the beta-CH2 protons of Cys 63 (Chromatium vinosum numbering) and the two upfield protons to those of Cys 43. These two pairs of protons show a Curie-type temperature dependence of the hyperfine shifts. Among the remaining five downfield-shifted signals, three show a Curie-type temperature dependence and two have an anti-Curie temperature dependence. The former are assigned to the beta-CH2 and alpha-CH protons of Cys 77 and the latter to the beta-CH2 protons of Cys 46. The shift patterns are thus similar, in a sequence-specific sense, to those of the analogous proteins from C. vinosum and Rhodocyclus gelatinosus, whereas they differ from those of Rhodocyclus globiformis HiPIP and even more from those of Ectothiorhodospira halophila HiPIP II. Oxidized HiPIPs can be formally viewed as containing a cluster of four ferric ions plus one extra electron. We present here a model based on a chemical equilibrium, fast on the NMR time scale, between two species, both of which contain a pair of iron(III) ions and a mixed-valence pair but are differently oriented within the protein frame. The EPR data are also discussed in the light of the debate on the nature of the different species detected at low temperature. The interpretation of the whole set of data on HiPIPs in the light of the present model is compared with that based on previous models.