A HYPOTHETICAL COMPLEX BETWEEN CRYSTALLINE FLAVOCYTOCHROME-B(2) AND CYTOCHROME-C

Flavocytochrome b2 and cytochrome c are physiological electron transfer partners in yeast mitochondria. The formation of a stable complex between them has been demonstrated both in solution and in the crystalline state. On the basis of the three-dimensional structures, using molecular modeling and energy minimization, we have generated a hypothetical model for the interaction of these redox partners in the crystal lattice. General criteria such as good charge and surface complementarity, plausible orientation, and separation distance of the prosthetic groups, as well as more specific criteria such as the stoichiometry determined in the crystal, and the involvement of both domains and of more than one subunit of flavocytochrome b2 led us to discriminate between several possible interaction sites. In the hypothetical model we present, four cytochrome c molecules interact with a tetramer of flavocytochrome b2. The b2 and c hemes are coplanar, with an edge-to-edge distance of 14 angstrom. The contact surface area is ca. 800 angstrom2. Several electrostatic interactions involving the flavin and the heme domains of flavocytochrome b2 stabilize the binding of cytochrome c. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.