The role of the invariant Trp residue at the redox site of thioredoxins was investigated by sitedirected mutagenesis of a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii thioredoxin h. Though being still redox active with NADPHϪthioredoxin reductase and chemical substrates [dithiothreitol and 5,5′-dithio-bis(2-nitrobenzoic acid)] the Trp35→Ala-mutated protein completely lost the capacity to activate the thiol-regulated NADPH-dependent malate dehydrogenase. However, it was able to activate a mutant malate dehydrogenase where only the most exposed disulfide was retained. The pH dependence of the redox-site Cysβ 1 H/ 13 C-NMR frequencies of the wild-type and mutated proteins, in both the reduced and oxidised states, were compared over the pH range 5.8Ϫ10. The mutation does not affect the conserved buried Asp30, which titrates with a pK a of 7.5 in the oxidised proteins in agreement with previous studies. However, for the reduced forms of the proteins, the pH dependence of resonances of both Cys was strongly affected by the mutation. In the case of the wild-type thioredoxin, two apparent pK a values were found around 7.0 and 9.5 and could be assigned to the titration of Cys36 and Cys39 thiol, respectively, similar to the case of Escherichia coli thioredoxin. For the mutated thioredoxin a single pK a was found around 8.3. This result can be interpreted as a single pK a of either Cys36 or Cys39 or both. While the mutation clearly affects ionisations, the measured redox potentials of the active-site Cys pair are not significantly affected by the Trp35→Ala mutation. Possible roles of an aromatic side chain on the reactivity of the catalytic Cys residues in thioredoxins are proposed.Keywords : thioredoxin h; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; redox potential ; NMR ; cysteine pK a.Thioredoxins are small globular proteins of 100Ϫ120 amino undergo a two-electron oxidation, with a redox potential of acids present in all living cells and represent, with the bovine about Ϫ270 mV, to form a disulfide [9]. The active Cys residues pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), one of the classes of proteins are included in a geometrically conserved environment organbest characterised in terms of structure either by radio-ised around a protruding first turn of helix composed of a invaricrystallography [1Ϫ3] Trp side chain is involved in a hydrogen bond between N 1 H and nase ; Nbs2, 5,5′-dithio-bis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) ; NTR, NADPH-thiore-the carboxylate of an invariant exposed Asp residue (Asp61 in doxin reductase; TOCSY, total correlation spectroscopy ; WT, wild type; E. coli thioredoxin). Overall, such a structural feature resembles mBBr, monobromobimane.