Electrochemical behaviour of low-potential electron-transferring proteins at the mercury electrode

This paper reports on a pulse polarographic study of low-potential electron-transferring proteins at the mercury electrode. The proteins studied were the negatively charged iron-sulphur cluster containing ferredoxins from spinach, and from Megasphaera elsdenii, the iron-containing rubredoxin and the FMN-containing flavodoxin both from M. elsdenii. Furthermore, the positively charged, four haem-containing cytochrome c3 from Desulfovibrio vulgaris strain Hildenborough was studied. It was observed that the electrode reaction of these proteins could be made much more efficient when a polymer or surfactant was added, with a charge opposite to the protein. The reduction efficiency of these proteins reaches an optimum when the net charge of the protein times its concentration is about equal to the same amount of opposite charges, which was added as a polymer or surfactant.