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A L Lehninger

Publications and source records attributed to A L Lehninger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Proton stoichiometry of electron transport in rodent tumor mitoplasts.

The mechanistic vectorial H+/O translocation ratios characteristic of energy-conserving sites 2 + 3 and site 3 of the respiratory chain of two tumor cell lines were determined using succinate and ferrocytochrome c, respectively, as electron donors. The measurements were carried out on mitoplasts in order to allow ferrocytochrome c free access to its binding site on the inner mitochondrial membrane. The tumor cell lines used were Ehrlich ascites tumor and the AS30-D ascites tumor. K+ was used as charge-compensating cation in the presence of valinomycin. The O2 uptake rate measurements were made with a fast-responding membrane-less electrode whose response time was closely matched with that of a pH electrode. The rates of O2 uptake and H+ ejection during the apparent zero-order rate phase of respiration, analyzed by computer, were extrapolated to zero time. The observed H+/O ratios for succinate oxidation in both tumors exceeded 7 and approached 8 and the H+/O ratios for the cytochrome oxidase reaction closely approached 4.0, in agreement with data or normal mitochondria. However, the rates of H+ back decay in the tumor mitochondria are relatively high and may influence the net efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation under intracellular conditions.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Formation and utilization of acetoin, an unusual product of pyruvate metabolism by Ehrlich and AS30-D tumor mitochondria.

[14C]Pyruvate was rapidly non-oxidatively decarboxylated by Ehrlich tumor mitochondria at a rate of 40 nmol/min/mg of protein in the presence or absence of ADP. A search for decarboxylation products led to significant amounts of acetoin formed when Ehrlich tumor mitochondria were incubated with 1 mM [14C] pyruvate in the presence of ATP. Added acetoin to aerobic tumor mitochondria was rapidly utilized in the presence of ATP at a rate of 65 nmol/min/mg of protein. Citrate has been found as a product of acetoin utilization and was exported from the tumor mitochondria. Acetoin has been found in the ascitic liquid of Ehrlich and AS30-D tumor-bearing animals. These unusual reactions were not observed in control rat liver mitochondria.

Acetoin↗
PubMed1987

Isolated tumoral pyruvate dehydrogenase can synthesize acetoin which inhibits pyruvate oxidation as well as other aldehydes.

Oxidation of 1 mM pyruvate by Ehrlich and AS30-D tumor mitochondria is inhibited by acetoin, an unusual and important metabolite of pyruvate utilization by cancer cells, by acetaldehyde, methylglyoxal and excess pyruvate. The respiratory inhibition is reversed by other substrates added to pyruvate and also by 0.5 mM ATP. Kinetic properties of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex isolated from these tumor mitochondria have been studied. This complex appears to be able to synthesize acetoin from acetaldehyde plus pyruvate and is competitively inhibited by acetoin. The role of a new regulatory pattern for tumoral pyruvate dehydrogenase is presented.

Acetoin↗
PubMed1987

Congenital deficiency of two polypeptide subunits of the iron-protein fragment of mitochondrial complex I.

Recently, we described a patient with severe lactic acidosis due to congenital complex I (NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase) deficiency. We now report further enzymatic and immunological characterizations. Both NADH and ferricyanide titrations of complex I activity (measured as NADH-ferricyanide reductase) were distinctly altered in the mitochondria from the patient's tissues. In addition, antisera against complex I immunoprecipitated NADH-ferricyanide reductase from the control but not the patient's mitochondria. However, immunoprecipitation and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of complex I polypeptides demonstrated that the majority of the 25 polypeptides comprising complex I were present in the affected mitochondria. A more detailed analysis using subunit selective antisera against the main polypeptides of the iron-protein fragments of complex I revealed a selective absence of the 75- and 13-kD polypeptides. These findings suggest that the underlying basis for this patient's disease was a congenital deficiency of at least two polypeptides comprising the iron-protein fragment of complex I, which resulted in the inability to correctly assemble a functional enzyme complex.

Humans↗
PubMed1986

The mechanism by which oxygen and cytochrome c increase the rate of electron transfer from cytochrome a to cytochrome a3 of cytochrome c oxidase.

When cytochrome c oxidase is isolated from mitochondria, the purified enzyme requires both cytochrome c and O2 to achieve its maximum rate of internal electron transfer from cytochrome a to cytochrome a3. When reductants other than cytochrome c are used, the rate of internal electron transfer is very slow. In this paper we offer an explanation for the slow reduction of cytochrome a3 when reductants other than cytochrome c are used and for the apparent allosteric effects of cytochrome c and O2. Our model is based on the conventional understanding of cytochrome oxidase mechanism (i.e. electron transfer from cytochrome a/CuA to cytochrome a3/CuB), but assumes a relatively rapid two-electron transfer between cytochrome a/CuA and cytochrome a3/CuB and a thermodynamic equilibrium in the "resting" enzyme (the enzyme as isolated) which favors reduced cytochrome a and oxidized cytochrome a3. Using the kinetic constants that are known for this reaction, we find that the activating effects of O2 and cytochrome c on the rate of electron transfer from cytochrome a to cytochrome a3 conform to the predictions of the model and so provide no evidence of any allosteric effects or control of cytochrome c oxidase by O2 or cytochrome c.

Cytochrome a Group↗
PubMed1986

Determination of the upper and lower limits of the mechanistic stoichiometry of incompletely coupled fluxes. Stoichiometry of incompletely coupled reactions.

A rationale is formulated for the design of experiments to determine the upper and lower limits of the mechanistic stoichiometry of any two incompletely coupled fluxes J1 and J2. Incomplete coupling results when there is a branch at some point in the sequence of reactions or processes coupling the two fluxes. The upper limit of the mechanistic stoichiometry is given by the minimum value of dJ2/dJ1 obtained when the fluxes are systematically varied by changes in steps after the branch point. The lower limit is given by the maximum value of dJ2/dJ1 obtained when the fluxes are varied by changes in steps prior to the branch point. The rationale for determining these limits is developed from both a simple kinetic model and from a linear nonequilibrium thermodynamic treatment of coupled fluxes, using the mechanistic approach [Westerhoff, H. V. & van Dam, K. (1979) Curr. Top. Bioenerg. 9, 1-62]. The phenomenological stoichiometry, the flux ratio at level flow and the affinity ratio at static head of incompletely coupled fluxes are defined in terms of mechanistic conductances and their relationship to the mechanistic stoichiometry is discussed. From the rationale developed, experimental approaches to determine the mechanistic stoichiometry of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation are outlined. The principles employed do not require knowledge of the pathway or the rate of transmembrane leaks or slippage and may also be applied to analysis of the stoichiometry of other incompletely coupled systems, including vectorial H+/O and K+/O translocation coupled to mitochondrial electron transport.

Biological Transport↗
PubMed1986

The upper and lower limits of the mechanistic stoichiometry of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Stoichiometry of oxidative phosphorylation.

Determination of the intrinsic or mechanistic P/O ratio of oxidative phosphorylation is difficult because of the unknown magnitude of leak fluxes. Applying a new approach developed to overcome this problem (see our preceding paper in this journal), the relationships between the rate of O2 uptake [( Jo)3], the net rate of phosphorylation (Jp), the P/O ratio, and the respiratory control ratio (RCR) have been determined in rat liver mitochondria when the rate of phosphorylation was systematically varied by three specific means. (a) When phosphorylation is titrated with carboxyatractyloside, linear relationships are observed between Jp and (Jo)3. These data indicate that the upper limit of the mechanistic P/O ratio is 1.80 for succinate and 2.90 for 3-hydroxybutyrate oxidation. (b) Titration with malonate or antimycin yields linear relationships between Jp and (Jo)3. These data give the lower limit of the mechanistic P/O ratio of 1.63 for succinate and 2.66 for 3-hydroxybutyrate oxidation. (c) Titration with a protonophore yields linear relationships between Jp, (Jo)3, and (Jo)4 and between P/O and 1/RCR. Extrapolation of the P/O ratio to 1/RCR = 0 yields P/O ratios of 1.75 for succinate and 2.73 for 3-hydroxybutyrate oxidation which must be equal to or greater than the mechanistic stoichiometry. When published values for the H+/O and H+/ATP ejection ratios are taken into consideration, these measurements suggest that the mechanistic P/O ratio is 1.75 for succinate oxidation and 2.75 for NADH oxidation.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1986

Upper and lower limits of the proton stoichiometry of cytochrome c oxidation in rat liver mitoplasts.

The stoichiometry of vectorial H+ translocation coupled to oxidation of added ferrocytochrome c by O2 via cytochrome-c oxidase of rat liver mitoplasts was determined employing a fast-responding O2 electrode. Electron flow was initiated by addition of either ferrocytochrome c or O2. When the rates were extrapolated to level flow, the H+/O ratios in both cases were less than but closely approached 4; the directly observed H+/O ratios significantly exceeded 3.0. The mechanistic H+/O ratio was then more closely fixed by a kinetic approach that eliminates the necessity for measuring energy leaks and is independent of any particular model of the mechanism of energy transduction. From two sets of kinetic measurements, an overestimate and an underestimate and thus the upper and lower limits of the mechanistic H+/O ratio could be obtained. In the first set, the utilization of respiratory energy was systematically varied through changes in the concentrations of valinomycin or K+. From the slope of a plot of the initial rates of H+ ejection (JH) and O2 uptake (JO) obtained in such experiments, the upper limit of the H+/O ratio was in the range 4.12-4.19. In the second set of measurements, the rate of respiratory energy production was varied by inhibiting electron transport. From the slope of a plot of JH versus JO, the lower limit of the H+/O ratio, equivalent to that at level flow, was in the range 3.83-3.96. These data fix the mechanistic H+/O ratio for the cytochrome oxidase reaction of mitoplasts at 4.0, thus confirming our earlier measurements (Reynafarje, B., Alexandre, A., Davies, P., and Lehninger, A. L. (1982) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 7218-7222). Possible reasons for discrepancies in published reports on the H+/O ratio of cytochrome oxidase in various mitochondrial and reconstituted systems are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Entry and exit pathways of CO2 in rat liver mitochondria respiring in a bicarbonate buffer system.

The dynamics and pathways of CO2 movements across the membranes of mitochondria respiring in vitro in a CO2/HCO-3 buffer at concentrations close to that in intact rat tissues were continuously monitored with a gas-permeable CO2-sensitive electrode. O2 uptake and pH changes were monitored simultaneously. Factors affecting CO2 entry were examined under conditions in which CO2 uptake was coupled to electrophoretic influx of K+ (in the presence of valinomycin) or Ca2+. The role of mitochondrial carbonic anhydrase (EC 4.2.1.1) in CO2 entry was evaluated by comparison of CO2 uptake by rat liver mitochondria, which possess carbonic anhydrase, versus rat heart mitochondria, which lack carbonic anhydrase. Such studies showed that matrix carbonic anhydrase activity is essential for rapid net uptake of CO2 with K+ or Ca2+. Studies with acetazolamide (Diamox), a potent inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase, confirmed the requirement of matrix carbonic anhydrase for net CO2 uptake. It was shown that at pH 7.2 the major species leaving respiring mitochondria is dissolved CO2, rather than HCO-3 or H2CO3 suggested by earlier reports. Efflux of endogenous CO2/HCO-3 is significantly inhibited by inhibitors of the dicarboxylate and tricarboxylate transport systems of the rat liver inner membrane. The possibility that these anion carriers mediate outward transport of HCO-3 is discussed.

Acetazolamide↗
PubMed1986

Inhibitors of the mitochondrial cytochrome b-c1 complex inhibit the cyanide-insensitive respiration of Trypanosoma brucei.

The cyanide-insensitive respiration of bloodstream trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma brucei (75 +/- 8 nmol O2 min-1(mg protein)-1) is completely inhibited by the mitochondrial ubiquinone-like inhibitors 2-hydroxy-3-undecyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (UHNQ) and 5-n-undecyl-6-hydroxy-4,7-dioxobenzothiazole (UHDBT). The Ki values for UHDBT (30 nM) and UHNQ (2 microM) are much lower than the reported Ki for salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM) (5 microM), a widely used inhibitor of the cyanide-insensitive oxidase. UHNQ also stimulated the glycerol-3-phosphate-dependent reduction of phenazine methosulfate, demonstrating that the site of UHNQ inhibition is on the terminal oxidase of the cyanide-insensitive respiration of T. brucei. These results suggest that a ubiquinone-like compound may act as an electron carrier between the two enzymatic components of the cyanide-insensitive glycerol-3-phosphate oxidase.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Direct measurement of the initial proton extrusion to oxygen uptake ratio accompanying succinate oxidation by rat liver mitochondria.

The problem of obtaining very early ratios for the H+/O stoichiometry accompanying succinate oxidation by rat liver mitochondria was attacked using new techniques for direct measurement rather than extrapolations based on data obtained after mixing and the recovery of the electrode from initial injection of O2. Respiration was quickly initiated in a thoroughly mixed O2-containing suspension of mitochondria under a CO atmosphere by photolysis of the CO-cytochrome c oxidase complex-. Fast responding O2 and pH electrodes were used to collect data every 10 ms. The response time for each electrode was experimentally measured in each experiment and suitable corrections for electrode relaxations were made. With uncorrected data obtained after 0.8 s, the extrapolation back to zero time on the basis of single-exponential curve fitting confirmed values close to 8.0 as previously reported (Costa et al., 1984). The data directly obtained, however, indicate an initial burst in H+/O ratio that peaked to values of approximately 20 to 30 prior to 50 ms and which was no longer evident after 0.3 s. Newer information and considerations that place all extrapolation methods in question are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

The H+/O ratio of proton translocation linked to the oxidation of succinate by mitochondria. Reply to a commentary.

Costa, L.E., Reynafarje, B. and Lehninger, A.L. [(1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 4802-4811] have reported 'second-generation' measurements of the H+/O ratio approaching 8.0 for vectorial H+ translocation coupled to succinate oxidation by rat liver mitochondria. In a Commentary in this Journal [Krab, K., Soos, J. and Wikström, M. (1984) FEBS Lett. 178, 187-192] it was concluded that the measurements of Costa et al. significantly overestimated the true H+/O stoichiometry. It is shown here that the mathematical simulation on which Krab et al. based this claim is faulty and that data reported by Costa et al. had already excluded the criticism advanced by Krab et al. Also reported are new data, obtained under conditions in which the arguments of Krab et al. are irrelevant, which confirm that the H+/O ratio for succinate oxidation extrapolated to level flow is close to 8.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

O2 solubility in aqueous media determined by a kinetic method.

A kinetic method for the determination of O2 solubility in air-saturated aqueous solutions of widely varying composition and temperature is described. It is based on the precise molar stoichiometry between the rates of uptake of H+ and O2, measured with response-matched electrodes, in the reaction NADH + H+ + 1/2O2----NAD+ + H2O, catalyzed by an NADH oxidase preparation. To the initially anaerobic test system, which contains an excess of NADH and NADH oxidase in a buffered medium, an aliquot of the O2-containing solution to be tested is added and the rates of both O2 uptake and H+ uptake are recorded; the H+ electrode is calibrated against standard HCl. From these data the amount of O2 in the aliquot is calculated. Some representative values for O2 solubility at 25 degrees C and 760 mm in air-saturated systems are (i) distilled H2O, 516 nmol O/ml, (ii) 0.15 M KCl, 480 nmol O/ml, and (iii) 0.25 M sucrose, 458 nmol O/ml. Data and equations are also given for the solubility of O2 at 760 mm in air-saturated and lightly buffered 0.15 M KCl and 0.25 M sucrose over the range 5 to 40 degrees C. In the method described the rates of O2 and H+ uptake are precisely linear and stoichiometric when NADH is present in large excess over O2. However, when O2 is in excess and small additions of 340-nm-standardized NADH are made, as in earlier methods based on NADH oxidation, the endpoint is approached very gradually and tends to overestimate O2 solubility, owing to (i) the higher Km for NADH than for O2, (ii) the relatively slow response of the Clark O2 electrode, and (iii) the incomplete oxidation of NADH in the presence of 340-nm-absorbing inhibitory substances.

Air↗
PubMed1985

Ubisemiquinone is the electron donor for superoxide formation by complex III of heart mitochondria.

Much evidence indicates that superoxide is generated from O2 in a cyanide-sensitive reaction involving a reduced component of complex III of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, particularly when antimycin A is present. Although it is generally believed that ubisemiquinone is the electron donor to O2, little experimental evidence supporting this view has been reported. Experiments with succinate as electron donor in the presence of antimycin A in intact rat heart mitochondria, which contain much superoxide dismutase but little catalase, showed that myxothiazol, which inhibits reduction of the Rieske iron-sulfur center, prevented formation of hydrogen peroxide, determined spectrophotometrically as the H2O2-peroxidase complex. Similarly, depletion of the mitochondria of their cytochrome c also inhibited formation of H2O2, which was restored by addition of cytochrome c. These observations indicate that factors preventing the formation of ubisemiquinone also prevent H2O2 formation. They also exclude ubiquinol, which remains reduced under these conditions, as the reductant of O2. Since cytochrome b also remains fully reduced when myxothiazol is added to succinate- and antimycin A-supplemented mitochondria, reduced cytochrome b may also be excluded as the reductant of O2. These observations, which are consistent with the Q-cycle reactions, by exclusion of other possibilities leave ubisemiquinone as the only reduced electron carrier in complex III capable of reducing O2 to O2-.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Bypasses of the antimycin a block of mitochondrial electron transport in relation to ubisemiquinone function.

Two different bypasses around the antimycin block of electron transport from succinate to cytochrome c via the ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase of intact rat liver mitochondria were analyzed, one promoted by N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD) and the other by 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCIP). Both bypasses are inhibited by myxothiazol, which blocks electron flow from ubiquinol to the Rieske iron-sulfur center, and by 2-hydroxy-3-undecyl-1,4-naphthoquinone, which inhibits electron flow from the iron-sulfur center to cytochrome c1. In the bypass promoted by TMPD its oxidized form (Wurster's blue) acts as an electron acceptor from some reduced component prior to the antimycin block, which by exclusion of other possibilities is ubisemiquinone. In the DCIP bypass its reduced form acts as an electron donor, by reducing ubisemiquinone to ubiquinol; reduced DCIP is regenerated again at the expense of either succinate or ascorbate. The observations described are consistent with and support current models of the Q cycle. Bypasses promoted by artificial electron carriers provide an independent approach to analysis of electron flow through ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase.

2,6-Dichloroindophenol↗
PubMed1984

The pathways of glutamate and glutamine oxidation by tumor cell mitochondria. Role of mitochondrial NAD(P)+-dependent malic enzyme.

Little evidence has been available on the oxidative pathways of glutamine and glutamate, the major respiratory substrates of cancer cells. Glutamate formed from glutamine by phosphate-dependent glutaminase undergoes quantitative transamination by aerobic tumor mitochondria to yield aspartate. However, when malate is also added there is a pronounced decrease in aspartate production and a large formation of citrate and alanine, in both state 3 and 4 conditions. In contrast, addition of malate to normal rat heart, liver, or kidney mitochondria oxidizing glutamate causes a marked increase in aspartate production. Further analysis showed that extramitochondrial malate is oxidized almost quantitatively to pyruvate + CO2 by NAD(P)+-linked malic enzyme, present in the mitochondria of all tumors tested, but absent in heart, liver, and kidney mitochondria. On the other hand intramitochondrial malate generated from glutamate is oxidized quantitatively to oxalacetate by mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase of tumors. Acetyl-CoA derived from extramitochondrial malate via pyruvate and oxalacetate derived from glutamate via intramitochondrial malate are quantitatively converted into citrate, which is extruded. No evidence was found that malic enzyme of tumor mitochondria converts glutamate-derived malate into pyruvate as postulated in other reports. Possible mechanisms for the integration of mitochondrial malic enzyme and malate dehydrogenase activities in tumors are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Purification, kinetic behavior, and regulation of NAD(P)+ malic enzyme of tumor mitochondria.

The purification and kinetic characterization of an NAD(P)+-malic enzyme from 22aH mouse hepatoma mitochondria are described. The enzyme was purified 328-fold with a final yield of 51% and specific activity of 38.1 units/mg of protein by employing DEAE-cellulose chromatography and an ATP affinity column. Sephadex G-200 chromatography yielded a native Mr = 240,000. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed a major subunit with Mr = 61,000, suggesting a tetrameric structure, and also showed that the preparation contained less than 10% polypeptide impurities. Use of the ATP affinity column required the presence of MnCl2 and fumarate (an allosteric activator) in the elution buffers. In the absence of fumarate, the Michaelis constants for malate, NAD+, and NADP+ were 3.6 mM, 55 microM, and 72 microM, respectively; in the presence of fumarate (2 mM), the constants were 0.34 mM, 9 microM, and 13 microM, respectively. ATP was shown to be an allosteric inhibitor, competitive with malate. However, the inhibition by ATP displayed hyperbolic competitive kinetics with a KI (ATP) of 80 microM (minus fumarate) and 0.5 mM (plus 2 mM fumarate). The allosteric properties of the enzyme are integrated into a rationale for its specific role in the pathways of malate and glutamate oxidation in tumor mitochondria.

Animals↗