Unusual semiquinone as an electron buffer in enzymatic quinone oxidation

Cytochromes bc1 and c b6f are part of respiratory or photosynthetic machinery. The main role of these enzymes is to build proton motive force across the bioenergetic membranes by coupling the proton translocations with electron transfer from the pool of membrane-soluble quinones to water-soluble redox proteins. Despite many years of research, the mechanism of quinol oxidation is not fully understood. It is assumed that unstable form of a partially oxidized quinol – semiquinone is an intermediate state of this process and that it is also a potential electron donor in the side reaction of superoxide generation. This semiquinone has remained experimentally elusive over years but recently a semiquinone interacting with the reduced iron-sulfur cluster was identified as a new state of the enzyme. The results indicate that semiquinone coupled to the iron-sulfur cluster is most probably an additional state that can prevent side reactions, including superoxide generation.