Altered coordination in a blue copper protein upon association with redox partner revealed by carbon-deuterium vibrational probes

Proteins tune the reactivity of metal sites; less understood is the impact of association with a redox partner. We demonstrate the utility of carbon-deuterium labels for selective analysis of delicate metal sites. Introduced into plastocyanin, they reveal substantial strengthening of the key Cu-Cys89 bond upon association with cytochrome f.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the utility of carbon-deuterium labels for selective analysis of metal sites and reveals substantial strengthening of the key Cu-Cys89 bond in plastocyanin upon association with cytochrome f.