Nature Communications (Feb 2021)

Short-lived metal-centered excited state initiates iron-methionine photodissociation in ferrous cytochrome c

  • Marco E. Reinhard,
  • Michael W. Mara,
  • Thomas Kroll,
  • Hyeongtaek Lim,
  • Ryan G. Hadt,
  • Roberto Alonso-Mori,
  • Matthieu Chollet,
  • James M. Glownia,
  • Silke Nelson,
  • Dimosthenis Sokaras,
  • Kristjan Kunnus,
  • Tim Brandt van Driel,
  • Robert W. Hartsock,
  • Kasper S. Kjaer,
  • Clemens Weninger,
  • Elisa Biasin,
  • Leland B. Gee,
  • Keith O. Hodgson,
  • Britt Hedman,
  • Uwe Bergmann,
  • Edward I. Solomon,
  • Kelly J. Gaffney

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21423-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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The dissociation mechanism of the heme axial ligand in heme proteins is not yet fully understood. The authors investigate the photodissociation dynamics of the bond between heme Fe and methionine S in ferrous cytochrome c using femtosecond time-resolved X-ray solution scattering and X-ray emission spectroscopy, simultaneously tracking electronic and nuclear structure changes.