The Structures of Class I Cytochromes c

Abstract

Knowledge of the three dimensional structures of proteins is an essential basis for understanding their chemical properties and biological functions. At present such structures can only be obtained by crystallographic methods and the work of four groups — those of Takano & Dickerson, Kraut & Salemme, Kakudo and Brayer — has made the class I cytochromes c one of the bestdefined protein families. Structures of five mitochondrial and seven bacterial cytochromes c have been determined (Table 4.1; reviewed in Salemme et al., 1973b; Dickerson & Timkovich, 1975; Salemme, 1977; Timkovich, 1979; Dickerson, 1980b;c; Takano & Dickerson, 1981a;b; Matsuura et al., 1982; Meyer & Kamen, 1982; Ochi et al., 1983; Louie et al., 1988a).