Association of cytochrome c with anionic membranes involved both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions and their relative contributions depended on the physical state of the membrane and the redox state of cyto-chromec.Hydrophobic interaction was favored by the membranes in gel phase, by the membranes with a large curvature, and by the membranes with a high surface charge density. Ferrocytochrome c was less dissociable by NaCl than ferricytochrome c suggesting that a lower protein stability is beneficial for hydrophobic interac-tion.Hydrophobic interaction induced larger structural perturbations on cytochrome c as monitored by the loss of the Fe-Met bond and by the increase in the distance between heme and Trp-59. When bound to anionic mem-branes,spin-labeled cytochrome c showed an electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum with two or more components, providing a direct evidence for multiple conformations of bound cytochrome c.