The bacterial heme protein cytochrome c from Alcaligenes xylosoxidans (AXCP) reacts with nitric oxide (NO) to form a 5-coordinate ferrous nitrosyl heme complex. The crystal structure of ferrous nitrosyl AXCP has previously revealed that NO is bound in an unprecedented manner on the proximal side of the heme. To understand how the protein structure of AXCP controls NO dynamics, we performed absorption and Raman timeresolved studies at the heme level as well as a molecular computational dynamics study at the entire protein structure level. We found that after NO dissociation from the heme iron, the structure of the proximal heme pocket of AXCP confines NO close to the iron so that an ultrafast (7 ps) and complete (99 ؎ 1%) geminate rebinding occurs, whereas the proximal histidine does not rebind to the heme iron on the timescale of NO geminate rebinding. The distal side controls the initial NO binding, whereas the proximal heme pocket controls its release. These dynamic properties allow the trapping of NO within the protein core and represent an extreme behavior observed among heme proteins.Nitric oxide (NO) acts as a second messenger in several physiological systems (1, 2), is involved in the production of several cytotoxic chemical species and nitrosative stress (3), and appears as an intermediate in the denitrification process (4). Cells have, thus, developed numerous heme proteins whose diverse functions involve nitric oxide binding and/or release. In some bacteria heme sensors were recently discovered (5) with a femtomolar affinity for NO, whereas cytochromes cЈ able to bind NO are found in many nitrogen-fixing, denitrifying, and photosynthetic bacteria (6). Although the physiological role the bacterial cytochrome cЈ from Alcaligenes xylosoxidans (AXCP) 2 is not yet established, the homologous cytochrome cЈ from Rhodobacter capsulatus has been shown to increase the resistance of this bacteria against NO toxicity (7,8). Thus, the bacterial cytochromes cЈ are inferred to disclose a particular behavior regarding NO dynamics and affinity. How heme proteins interact with NO and control its reactivity is ultimately related to their structure and the heme surroundings. A wide range of affinity and kinetic constants can be observed that correlates with the molecular dynamics of NO within the protein core. A striking example of this diversity is offered when comparing the NO dynamics governed by the enzyme NO synthase (9), the endogenous cellular source, and the NO receptorsoluble guanylate cyclase (10) (sGC) whose heme cofactor has a somewhat opposite role. Nitrosylated heme proteins usually form 6-coordinate complexes having histidine and NO as axial ligands at the proximal and distal sides of the heme, respectively (6c-NO-His), but some become 5-coordinate (5c) with NO (5c-NO) like sGC (11, 12) and AXCP (13,14). These latter proteins have an overall structure that presumably controls the strain upon the proximal histidine. Although sGC and AXCP possess different sequences and tertiary structures, they share the pro...