The Complete Amino-acid Sequence of the Low-spin Class II Cytochrome C-556 from Agrobacterium Tumefaciens Strain B2a

The amino acid sequence of the soluble monohaem cytochrome c-556 from Agrobacterium tumefaciens, strain B2a, has been determined. The sequence was derived from peptides obtained by digestion of the apoprotein with trypsin and chymotrypsin, and by subdigestion of some of the peptides with Staphylococcus aureus protease and thermolysin. Sequencing of the various peptides was achieved by a combination of manual dansyl-Edman degradation and automatic liquid-phase sequence analysis. The main characteristic of this cytochrome is that the haem-binding sequence Cys-Xaa-Yaa-Cys-His occurs in the C-terminal region of the polypeptide chain, the first cysteine being located 11 residues ahead of the C-terminal lysine-122. As such, the protein belongs to cytochrome c sequence class II (sensu Ambler). The cytochrome c-556 is the first example known of a class II cytochrome of the low-spin type isolated from an obligate aerobic organism.