This review focuses on thiol/disulfide redox switches that regulate heme binding to proteins and modulate their activities. The importance of redox switches in metabolic regulation and the general mechanism by which redox switches modulate activity are discussed. Methods are described to characterize heme-binding sites and to assess their physiological relevance. For thiol/disulfide interconver...

The cytoplasmic NADH/NAD redox potential affects energy metabolism and contractile reactivity of vascular smooth muscle. NADH/NAD redox state in the cytosol is predominately determined by glycolysis, which in smooth muscle is separated into two functionally independent cytoplasmic compartments, one of which fuels the activity of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase. We examined the effect of varying the glycolyti...

Due to its short lifespan, ease of use and age-related pathologies that mirror those observed in humans, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is poised to become a standard nonhuman primate model of aging. Blood and extracellular fluid possess two major thiol-dependent redox nodes involving cysteine (Cys), cystine (CySS), glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide (GSSG). Alteration in the...

Redox-flow batteries are relevant to store energy from intermittent sources such as solar panels or wind turbines, thereby smoothing their supply. Up now, most redox-flow based on vanadium. Vanadium is a rare and expensive material, thus recent research has focused organic compounds and, in particular, anthraquinones electroactive materials. However, the tunability of chemistry poses needle-in-...

Structural Fe in clay minerals is an important, albeit poorly characterized, redox-active phase found in many natural and engineered environments. This work develops an experimental approach to directly assess the redox properties of a natural Fe-bearing smectite (ferruginous smectite, SWa-1, 12.6 wt % Fe) with mediated electrochemical reduction (MER) and oxidation (MEO). By utilizing a suite o...

At least eleven thylakoid proteins become phosphorylated under reducing conditions, and redox titration has identified a common midpoint potential of Em = +38 +/- 4 mV, n = 0.95 +/- 0.06. In the presence of the phosphatase inhibitor NaF (10 mM), the redox dependency of phosphorylation is found to be essentially unchanged: Em = +50 +/- 3 mV, n = 1.02 +/- 0.04. Thylakoid membranes were phosphoryl...

Oxidation-reduction (redox) based regulation of signal transduction and gene expression is emerging as a fundamental regulatory mechanism in cell biology. Electron flow through side chain functional CH2-SH groups of conserved cysteinyl residues in proteins account for their redox-sensing properties. Because in most intracellular proteins thiol groups are strongly "buffered" against oxidation by...

Redox mediators could catalyse otherwise slow and energy-inefficient cycling of Li–S Li–O2 batteries by shuttling electrons or holes between the electrode solid insulating storage materials. For to work efficiently they need oxidize with fast kinetics but lowest possible overpotential. However, dependence overpotential is unclear, which hinders informed improvement. Here, we find that when redo...

Redox regulation of DNA-binding proteins through the reversible oxidation of key cysteine sulfhydryl groups has been demonstrated to occur in vitro for a range of transcription factors. The direct redox regulation of DNA binding has not been described in vivo, possibly because most protein thiol groups are strongly buffered against oxidation by the highly reduced intracellular environment media...