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- ******************************
- * Cytochrome b/b6 signatures *
- ******************************
-
- In the mitochondrion of eukaryotes and in aerobic prokaryotes, cytochrome b is
- a component of respiratory chain complex III (EC 1.10.2.2) - also known as the
- bc1 complex or ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase. In plant chloroplasts and
- cyanobacteria, there is a analogous protein, cytochrome b6, a component of the
- plastoquinone-plastocyanin reductase (EC 1.10.99.1), also known as the b6f
- complex.
-
- Cytochrome b/b6 [1,2] is an integral membrane protein of approximately 400
- amino acid residues that probably has 8 transmembrane segments. In plants and
- cyanobacteria, cytochrome b6 consists of two subunits encoded by the petB
- and petD genes. The sequence of petB is colinear with the N-terminal part of
- mitochondrial cytochrome b, while petD corresponds to the C-terminal part.
- Cytochrome b/b6 non-covalently binds two heme groups, known as b562 and b566.
- Four conserved histidine residues are postulated to be the ligands of the
- iron atoms of these two heme groups.
-
- Apart from regions around some of the histidine heme ligands, there are a few
- conserved regions in the sequence of b/b6. The best conserved of these regions
- includes an invariant P-E-W triplet which lies in the loop that separates the
- fifth and sixth transmembrane segments. It seems to be important for electron
- transfer at the ubiquinone redox site - called Qz or Qo (where o stands for
- outside) - located on the outer side of the membrane.
-
- A schematic representation of the structure of cytochrome b/b6 is shown below.
-
- +---Fe-b562----+
- | +---Fe-b566--|-+
- | | | |
- xxxxxxxxxxxHxHxxxxxxxxxxxxHxHxxxxxxxxxxPEWxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- <------------------Cytochrome-b---------------------------->
- <----Cytochrome-b6-petB---------><--Cytochrome-b6-petD----->
-
- We developed two signature patterns for cytochrome b/b6. The first includes
- the first conserved histidine of b/b6, which is a heme b562 ligand; the second
- includes the conserved PEW triplet.
-
- -Consensus pattern: [DENQ]-x(3)-G-[FYWM]-x-[LIVMF]-R-x(2)-H
- [H is a heme b562 ligand]
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL, except
- for Paramecium tetraurelia cytochrome b.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: Caenorhabditis elegans hypothetical
- protein ZK757.3.
-
- -Consensus pattern: P-E-W-[FY]-[LFY](2)
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL, except
- for Odocoileus hemionus (mule deer) and Paramecium tetraurelia cytochrome b.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
-
- -Last update: June 1994 / Text revised.
-
- [ 1] Howell N.
- J. Mol. Evol. 29:157-169(1989).
- [ 2] Esposti M.D., De Vries S., Crimi M., Ghelli A., Patarnello T., Meyer A.
- Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1143:243-271(1993).
-