Analysis of the ionization constants and heats of ionization of reduced and oxidized horse heart cytochrome c.

Simultaneous curve fitting for the ionization parameters of oxidized and reduced horse heart cytochrome c in 0.15M KCl and 20°C yields values for the ionization constants (as pK′) and the heats of ionization (ΔHi) which can reconstruct either the potentiometric or thermal titration curves. Reduced cytochrome c requires 8 sets of groups, whereas oxidized cytochrome c requires 10 sets of groups. The additional groups in the oxidized preparation appear to involve the ferriheme (pK′, 9.25; ΔHi, 13.7 kcal/mol) and a tyrosine (pK′ ≃ 10.24) that is not present in the reduced form. The potentiometric and thermal difference curves (reduced – oxidized) involve the appearance of 17 kcal/mol centered at pH 9.7 and 5.8 kcal/mol centered at pH 4.9. The carboxyl groups in both species appear to be normal for the hydrogen-bonded form. Only one histidine has normal ionization properties (pK′, 6.7; ΔHi, 7.5 kcal/mol), as do 17 of the lysine residues (pK′, 10.8; ΔHi, 11.5 kcal/mol).