Protein Information

Name Cytochrome c oxidase (protein family or complex)
Synonyms COX; cytochrome c oxidase; cytochrome c oxidases

Compound Information

Name hydrogen cyanide
CAS hydrocyanic acid

Reference List

PubMed Abstract RScore(About this table)
10763748 Blumer C, Haas D: Mechanism, regulation, and ecological role of bacterial cyanide biosynthesis. Arch Microbiol. 2000 Mar;173(3):170-7.

A few bacterial species are known to produce and excrete hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a potent inhibitor of cytochrome c oxidase and several other metalloenzymes.
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2324669 O'Brien J, Vetter RD: Production of thiosulphate during sulphide oxidation by mitochondria of the symbiont-containing bivalve Solemya reidi. J Exp Biol. 1990 Mar;149:133-48.

This oxidation was obligately linked to mitochondrial electron transport and could be inhibited by the cytochrome c oxidase inhibitor hydrogen cyanide, or by low oxygen concentration.
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7632673 Panda M, Robinson NC: Kinetics and mechanism for the binding of HCN to cytochrome c oxidase. . Biochemistry. 1995 Aug 8;34(31):10009-18.

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19769587 Devi KK, Kothamasi D: Pseudomonas fluorescens CHA0 can kill subterranean termite Odontotermes obesus by inhibiting cytochrome c oxidase of the termite respiratory chain. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2009 Nov;300(2):195-200. Epub 2009 Sep 4.

Hydrogen cyanide, a secondary metabolite produced by the bacterium, has been credited as being one of the determinants of its biocontrol ability.
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10977952 Zabrodskii PF, Kirichuk VF, Germanchuk VG, Belikov VG: Mechanisms of immunotoxic effects of acrylonitrile. Bull Exp Biol Med. 2000 May;129(5):463-5.

Cholinesterase reactivator dipyroxime and hydrogen cyanide antidote anticyan partially restore cell and humoral immune response in mice after acute acrylonitrile poisoning (0.5 LD (50)).
The main mechanism of immunotoxic effect of acrylonitrile is mediated through inhibition of T lymphocyte esterases and a (3) component of cytochrome c oxidase of immunocyte mitochondrial respiration enzymes, which is important for prevention and treatment of immune disturbances caused by this toxin.
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2844603 Musatov A, Konstantinov AA: Conformational change of cytochrome a3 induced by oxidized cytochrome c. . FEBS Lett. 1988 Oct 10;238(2):295-9.


Cyanide binding with the oxidized resting Yonetani-type cytochrome c-oxidase followed spectrophotometrically reveals a relatively rapid initial phase the rate of which shows saturation behaviour with respect to [HCN] and secondary slower absorption changes to a first approximation independent of the ligand concentration.
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20089046 Hassan KA, Johnson A, Shaffer BT, Ren Q, Kidarsa TA, Elbourne LD, Hartney S, Duboy R, Goebel NC, Zabriskie TM, Paulsen IT, Loper JE: Inactivation of the GacA response regulator in Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5 has far-reaching transcriptomic consequences. Environ Microbiol. 2010 Jan 18.

Transcripts of genes involved in the production of hydrogen cyanide, the antibiotic pyoluteorin and the extracellular protease AprA were at a low level in the gacA mutant, whereas those functioning in siderophore production and other aspects of iron homeostasis were significantly higher in the gacA mutant than in wild-type Pf-5.
Notable effects of gacA inactivation were also observed in the transcription of genes encoding components of a type VI secretion system and cytochrome c oxidase subunits.
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12767687 Thompson RW, Valentine HL, Valentine WM: Cytotoxic mechanisms of hydrosulfide anion and cyanide anion in primary rat hepatocyte cultures. Toxicology. 2003 Jun 30;188(2-3):149-59.

Hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen cyanide are known to compromise mitochondrial respiration through inhibition of cytochrome c oxidase and this is generally considered to be their primary mechanism of toxicity.
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