We have applied resonance Raman spectroscopy to investigate the properties of the dinuclear center of oxidized, reduced, and NO-bound nitric-oxide reductase from Paracoccus denitrificans. , respectively. The nitrosyl species we detect is photolabile and can be photolyzed to generate a new form of oxidized enzyme in which the proximal histidine is ligated to heme b 3 , in contrast to the resting form. Photodissociation of the NO ligand yields a five-coordinate high-spin heme b 3 . Based on the findings reported here, the structure and properties of the dinuclear center of nitricoxide reductase in the oxidized, reduced, and NO-bound form as well as its photoproduct can be described with certainty.The bacterial nitric-oxide reductase (Nor) 1 complex forms the N-N bond during denitrification (1-4). It is a membrane-bound cytochrome bc complex composed of two subunits, NorC and NorB, that catalyzes the reduction of NO to N 2 O (5). The complex contains four known redox centers: three heme groups and one non-heme Fe atom (5-7). Heme c (six-coordinate, lowspin) is bound to NorC subunit and functions as the electron entry site of the enzyme. NorB contains one six-coordinate, low-spin heme b and a five-coordinate, high-spin heme b 3 , which, together with a non-heme iron atom, form the dinuclear NO reduction site. The sequence of NorB contains all six histidines that are the ligands of heme a, heme a 3 , and Cu B in cytochrome c oxidase (4).Resonance Raman (RR) scattering is a powerful technique for the study of heme proteins because the spectra are rich in information about the heme groups (8, 9). Moreover, vibrational modes of ligands bound to heme may be assigned by isotopic substitution measurements, and their properties, which reflect ligand structure, may be studied. It has been reported that in oxidized Nor, heme b 3 is not coordinated to the protein by its proximal histidine residue (6). In addition, the single oxygen isotope-sensitive ligand vibration observed at 811 cm Ϫ1 in the RR spectrum was attributed to the as (Fe-OFe) of the heme b 3 /non-heme diiron center (7). However, the structural implications involved in the transition from oxidized to reduced enzyme were not reported.The properties of oxidized Nor, when compared with those of the chemically generated deoxy (five-coordinate) and the nitrosyl complex, can be related to structural changes that take place in the protein upon ligand binding and release. It is these interactions between the heme and the protein that determine the biological properties of the heme protein. Moreover, in unraveling the NO protonation mechanism, it is necessary to establish sites in the enzyme that have exchangeable protons. If there are such sites near the high-spin heme b 3 or the non-heme Fe, then solvent exchange from protonated to deuterated buffers could lead to changes in the RR spectra because the vibrational frequencies are sensitive to effective mass.In an effort to gain information concerning these observations, we have used 413.1 nm RR excitation to examine the s...