Structural highlights
Function
[CYC_HORSE] Electron carrier protein. The oxidized form of the cytochrome c heme group can accept an electron from the heme group of the cytochrome c1 subunit of cytochrome reductase. Cytochrome c then transfers this electron to the cytochrome oxidase complex, the final protein carrier in the mitochondrial electron-transport chain. Plays a role in apoptosis. Suppression of the anti-apoptotic members or activation of the pro-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family leads to altered mitochondrial membrane permeability resulting in release of cytochrome c into the cytosol. Binding of cytochrome c to Apaf-1 triggers the activation of caspase-9, which then accelerates apoptosis by activating other caspases (By similarity).
Evolutionary Conservation
Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
Cytochrome c (cyt c) is a stable protein that functions in a monomeric state as an electron donor for cytochrome c oxidase. It is also released to the cytosol when permeabilization of the mitochondrial outer membrane occurs at the early stage of apoptosis. For nearly half a century, it has been known that cyt c forms polymers, but the polymerization mechanism remains unknown. We found that cyt c forms polymers by successive domain swapping, where the C-terminal helix is displaced from its original position in the monomer and Met-heme coordination is perturbed significantly. In the crystal structures of dimeric and trimeric cyt c, the C-terminal helices are replaced by the corresponding domain of other cyt c molecules and Met80 is dissociated from the heme. The solution structures of dimeric, trimeric, and tetrameric cyt c were linear based on small-angle X-ray scattering measurements, where the trimeric linear structure shifted toward the cyclic structure by addition of PEG and (NH(4))(2)HPO(4). The absorption and CD spectra of high-order oligomers ( approximately 40 mer) were similar to those of dimeric and trimeric cyt c but different from those of monomeric cyt c. For dimeric, trimeric, and tetrameric cyt c, the DeltaH of the oligomer dissociation to monomers was estimated to be about -20 kcal/mol per protomer unit, where Met-heme coordination appears to contribute largely to DeltaH. The present results suggest that cyt c polymerization occurs by successive domain swapping, which may be a common mechanism of protein polymerization.
Cytochrome c polymerization by successive domain swapping at the C-terminal helix.,Hirota S, Hattori Y, Nagao S, Taketa M, Komori H, Kamikubo H, Wang Z, Takahashi I, Negi S, Sugiura Y, Kataoka M, Higuchi Y Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jul 6. PMID:20615990[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Hirota S, Hattori Y, Nagao S, Taketa M, Komori H, Kamikubo H, Wang Z, Takahashi I, Negi S, Sugiura Y, Kataoka M, Higuchi Y. Cytochrome c polymerization by successive domain swapping at the C-terminal helix. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jul 6. PMID:20615990
