Autoreduction of spinach plastocyanin at alkaline pH

The autoreduction of spinach plastocyanin has been studied by fluorescence, absorption, and paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Decolorization of oxidized plastocyanin, due to the autoreduction of plastocyanin, occurred rapidly at alkaline pH (half-life 20 min at pH 10.2). Its rate also increased with increasing ionic strength. In the presence of a hydrophobic fluorescent probe such as 2-p-toluidino-naphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS), the fluorescence intensity of TNS due to binding to oxidized plastocyanin gradually increased following the autoreduction of plastocyanin, which suggests that copper is autoreduced in parallel with the exposure of a hydrophobic site (probably near Cys 84) to the solvent. The EPR spectra also supported the change of coordination geometry of copper. The reduction rate of plastocyanin by ferrocyanide at alkaline pH was almost the same as that at neutral pH, and TNS did not alter the exogenous reduction rate even at alkaline pH. These results suggest that exogenous and endogenous reduction take place independently at different reduction sites in spinach plastocyanin.