PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M Wikström

Publications and source records attributed to M Wikström.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Proton-translocating cytochrome c oxidase in artificial phospholipid vesicles.

The proton translocating properties of cytochrome c oxidase have been studied in artificial phospholipid vesicles into the membranes of which the isolated and purified enzyme was incorporated. Initiation of oxidation of ferrocytochrome c by addition of the cytochrome, or by addition of oxygen to an anaerobic vesicle suspension, leads to ejection of H+ from the vesicles provided that charge compensation is permitted by the presence of valinomycin and K+. Proton ejection is not observed if the membranes have been specifically rendered permeable to protons. The proton ejection is the result of true translocation of H+ across the membrane as indicated by its dependence on the intravesicular buffering power relative to the number of particles (electrons and protons) transferred by the system, and since it can be shown not to be due to a net formation of acid in the system. Comparison of the initial rates of proton ejection and oxidation of cytochrome c yields a H+/e- quotient close to 1.0 both in cytochrome c and oxygen pulse experiments. An approach towards the same stoichiometry is found by comparison of the extents of proton ejection and electron transfer under appropriate experimental conditions. It is concluded that cytochrome c oxidase is a proton pump, which conserves redox energy by converting it into an electrochemical proton gradient through electrogenic translocation of H+.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed1975

A spectral shift in cytochrome a induced by calcium ions.

Ca2+ induces a red shift in the absorption spectrum of ferrocytochrome a when added to uncoupled mitochondria, sub-mitochondrial particles or isolated cytochrome aa3. The shift is identical within experimental error to the previously reported energy-linked shift in intact mitochondria (Wikström, M. K. F. (1972), Biochim. Biophys. Acta 283, 385-390). One mol of calcium produces the shift in one mole of cytochrome a, the KD being approx. 20-30 muM. The calcium-induced shift is readily reversed by chelating agents such as EDTA, ethyleneglycol-bis-(beta-aminoethyl ether)N,N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) and ATP and is insensitive to uncoupling agents and inhibitors of calcium transport (La3+ and ruthenium red). It is shown that the binding site for calcium that is responsible for the spectral shift is located on the outside of the permeability barrier of the mitochondrial cristae membrane. It is proposed that calcium simulates the energy-linked shift in cytochrome a by binding to a site of cytochrome aa3 that is occupied by protons in energized mitochondria and that is located at the external surface of the mitochondrial membrane.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗