Separation and identification of two native forms of spinach ferredoxin by hydrophobic chromatography

Hydrophobic chromatography on a TSK-gel Phenyl-5PW column separated highly purified spinach ferredoxin into two distinct molecular species in their native forms. The two ferredoxins showed almost the same absorption spectra in spite of a difference in amino acid composition. Both ferredoxins were active in the NADPH-cytochrome c reducing system, and no significant difference was observed between their activities. The new separation method was also applied to ferredoxins highly purified from wheat plants and barley. Interestingly, all ferredoxin preparations so far examined contained two molecular species of ferredoxin.