Electrochemically induced static FTIR difference spectroscopy has been employed to investigate redox-driven protonation changes of individual amino acid residues in the quinol:fumarate reductase (QFR) from Wolinella succinogenes. The difference spectra presented were taken in the mid-infrared region from 1800 to 1000 cm(-1), and the signals obtained represent transitions between the reduced and oxidized states of the enzyme. Analysis of the difference spectra shows evidence for structural reorganizations of the polypeptide backbone upon the induced redox reaction. Furthermore, spectral contributions were found above 1710 cm(-1) where stretching vibrations of protonated carboxyl groups from aspartic or glutamic acid side chains absorb. With the help of site-directed mutagenesis and hydrogen/deuterium isotope exchange, it was possible to identify amino acid residue Glu C180, which is located in the membrane-spanning, diheme-containing subunit C of QFR, as being partially responsible for the derivative-shaped spectral feature with a peak/trough at 1741/1733 cm(-1) in the reduced-minus-oxidized difference spectrum. This signal pattern is interpreted as a superposition of a protonation/deprotonation and a change of the hydrogen-bonding environment of Glu C180. This residue is the principal constituent of the recently proposed "E-pathway hypothesis" of coupled transmembrane proton and electron transfer in QFR [Lancaster, C. R. D. (2002) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1565, 215-231]. Thus, the study presented yields experimental evidence which supports a key role of Glu C180 within the framework of the E-pathway hypothesis.