Cytochrome b/b6 is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f

Cytochrome b6f complex

The cytochrome b6f complex is an enzyme found in the thylakoid membrane in chloroplasts of plants, cyanobacteria, and green algae, catalyzing the transfer of electrons from plastoquinol to plastocyanin...

 complexes. In addition, it commonly refers to a region of mtDNA used for population genetics

Population genetics

Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...

 and phylogenetics

Phylogenetics

In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices...

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Function

In the mitochondrion of eukaryotes and in aerobic prokaryotes, cytochrome b is a component of respiratory chain complex III - also known as the bc1 complex or ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase. In plant chloroplasts and cyanobacteria, there is an analogous protein, cytochrome b6, a component of the plastoquinone-plastocyanin reductase , also known as the b6f complex. These complexes are involved in electron transport and the generation of ATP

Adenosine triphosphate

Adenosine-5'-triphosphate is a multifunctional nucleoside triphosphate used in cells as a coenzyme. It is often called the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer. ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism...

 and thus play a vital role in the cell.

Structure

Cytochrome b/b6 is an integral membrane protein of approximately 400 amino acid residues that probably has 8 transmembrane segments. In plants and cyanobacteria, cytochrome b6 consists of two subunits encoded by the petB and petD genes. Cytochrome b/b6 non-covalently binds two heme

Heme

A heme or haem is a prosthetic group that consists of an iron atom contained in the center of a large heterocyclic organic ring called a porphyrin. Not all porphyrins contain iron, but a substantial fraction of porphyrin-containing metalloproteins have heme as their prosthetic group; these are...

 groups, known as b562 and b566. Four conserved histidine residues are postulated to be the ligands of the iron atoms of these two heme groups.

Use in phylogenetics

Cytochrome b is commonly used to determine phylogenetic relationships between organisms due to its sequence variability. It is considered to be most useful in determining relationships within families

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 and genera

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

. Comparative studies involving cytochrome b have resulted in new classification schemes and have been used to assign newly described species to a genus, as well as deepen the understanding of evolutionary relationships.

Clinical significance

Mutations in cytochrome b primarily result in exercise intolerance

Exercise intolerance

Exercise intolerance is a condition where the patient is unable to do physical exercise at the level or for the duration that would be expected of someone in his or her general physical condition, or experiences unusually severe post-exercise pain, fatigue, or other negative effects...

 in human patients; though more rare, severe multi-system pathologies have also been reported.

Single-point mutations in cytochrome b of Plasdmodium falciparum and P. berghei are associated with resistance to the anti-malarial drug atovaquone

Atovaquone

Atovaquone is a chemical compound that belongs to the class of naphthalenes. Atovaquone is a hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, an analog of ubiquinone, with antipneumocystic activity. Its average wholesale price is about US$2.13 per standard 250 mg. tablet...

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Human genes

Human genes encoding cytochrome b proteins include:

• CYB5A – cytochrome b5 type A (microsomal)
• CYB5B – cytochrome b5 type B (outer mitochondrial membrane)
• CYBASC3 – cytochrome b, ascorbate dependent 3
• MT-CYB – mitochondrially encoded cytochrome b