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The recognition of a special ubiquinone functionally central in the ubiquinone-cytochrome b-c2 oxidoreductase.

Although the energy conserving membranes of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides contain a 25 (+/- 3)-fold molar excess of ubiquinone over the photochemical reaction center, the activity of the ubiquinone-cytochrome b-c2 oxidoreductase is unaffected by quinone extraction until only 3, or at most 4, ubiquinones remain; only then does further extraction prevent the function of the oxidoreductase. Since 2 of these last ubiquinones are integral parts of the photochemical reaction center, we conclude that the ubiquinone-cytochrome b-c2 oxidoreductase requires only 1, or at most 2, molecules of ubiquinone-10 for its function. Earlier kinetic data identified a major electron donor to ferricytochrome c2 as a single molecule (known as Z) which requires 2 electrons and 2 protons for its equilibrium reduction. Hence, we identify a single molecule of quinone, probably ubiquinone-10 in a special environment, as a major electron donor to ferricytochrome c2 in the ubiquinone cytochrome b-c2 oxidoreductase.

Cytochrome c Group

The role of phospholipids in the reduction of ubiquinone analogues by the mitochondrial reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide-ubiquinone oxidoreductase complex.

The isolated NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase complex of bovine heart mitochondria reduces ubiquinone analogues by two pathways. One pathway is inhibited by rotenone, and reduction of quinones takes place in the lipid phase of the system. The other pathway is insensitive to rotenone and reduction takes place in the aqueous phase. The variation of rates of electron transpport with the chemical nature of the quinone analogue and the concentrations of both quinone and phospholipid can be rationalized in terms of partition of the quinone between the aqueous and lipid phases of the system. Thus one function of phospholipid associated with the enzyme appears to be to act as solvent for ubiquinone reduced by the rotenone-sensitive pathway. This proposal is supported by the kinetic behaviour of enzyme whose endogenous lipids have been replaced by (1,2)-dimyristoylsn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. Thus, under certain circumstances, the rotenone-sensitive reduction of ubiquinone-1 exhibited a substantial increase in activation energy below the phase-transition temperature of the synthetic lipid, whereas the reduction of other acceptors was unaffected.

Animals

The interaction between mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase and ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase. Restoration of ubiquinone-pool behaviour.

1. In the inner mitochondrial membrane, dehydrogenases and cytochromes appear to act independently of each other, and electron transport has been proposed to occur through a mobile pool of ubiquinone-10 molecules [Kröger & Klingenberg (1973) Eur. J. Biochem. 34, 358--368]. 2. Such behaviour can be restored to the interaction between purified Complex I and Complex III by addition of phospholipid and ubiquinone-10 to a concentrated mixture of the Complexes before dilution. 3. A model is proposed for the interaction of Complex I with Complex III in the natural membrane that emphasizes relative mobility of the Complexes rather than ubiquinone-10. Electron transfer occurs only through stoicheiometric Complex I-Complex III units, which, however, are formed and re-formed at rates higher than the rate of electron transfer.

Antimycin A

[Effect of ubiquinones and their analogs on the respiratory chain enzyme activity of Candida guilliermondii yeasts].

The effect of ubiquinones with different length of their chain (CoQ0, CoQ1, CoQ2, CoQ6, CoQ9) and their synthetic analogues (analogues of ubiquinone-1, hexahydroubiquinone-4, monophytylquinone, diphytylquinone, triphytylquinone) on the activity of ubiquinone dependent enzyme systems was studied in mitochondrial fractions from the yeast Candida guilliermondii. All of the ubiquinone homologues studied activated these systems. The synthetic analogues of ubiquinone nonspecifically inhibited the activity of NADH2-oxidase system. The inhibition was reversible when CoQ0 and CoQ1, but not CoQ6 and CoQ9, were added to the system. In the succinate-CoQ-reductase system, the inhibition caused by the analogues of ubiquinone was eliminated when all of the tested homologues were added to the system. In contrast to other analogues of ubiquinone, hexahydroubiquinone-4 was an inhibitor for the NADH2-oxidase system and an activator for the succinate-CoQ-reductase system, and eliminated the inhibiting action of other ubiquinone analogues in this system. Similar action of ubiquinone homologues was shown in the elimination of the inhibition of ubiquinone dependent systems caused by the specific inhibitors of electron transport, viz. rotenone and antimycin A.

Antimycin A

Ubiquinone analyses in fish tissues and in some marine invertebrates.

1. Ubiquinone contents were determined in species of marine invertebrates, and in heart, red and white muscle and liver of three species of fish. 2. Three different methods of determination were compared, based on spectrophotometry, reduction and a reaction with the dimethoxy groups of ubiquinone. 3. Using ubiquinone homologues 6-10 prepared from beef heart and commercially available microorganisms (SCP) as standards, ubiquinone 10 was found in all samples. In addition were found minor amounts of Q-9 in samples of saithe heart and red muscle. 4. Less than 10 mg/kg wet wt of ubiquinone was found in the samples of marine invertebrates and in white muscle and liver of the fish samples, with one exception: 40 mg/kg in a sample of mackerel liver. 5. Higher contents of ubiquinone were found in fish heart and red muscle tissues, ranging from 24 to 116 mg/kg wet wt. The ubiquinone contents were comparable in the two tissues. 6. A test on cellular fragments of red muscle tissue of saithe showed that the ubiquinone was concentrated in the mitochondria fraction.

Animals

Three hydroxylations incorporating molecular oxygen in the aerobic biosynthesis of ubiquinone in Escherichia coli.

The biosynthetic origin of the oxygen atoms of ubiquinone 8 from aerobically grown Escherichia coli was studied by 18O labeling. An apparatus was developed which allowed the growth of cells under a defined atmosphere. Mass spectral analysis of ubiquinone 8 from cells grown under highly enriched 18O2 showed that three oxygen atoms of the quinone are derived from molecular oxygen. It was established that the molecular oxygen is incorporated into the two methoxyl groups (at C-5 and C-6) and one of the carbonyl positions of the ubiquinone molecule by demonstrating that only one of the incorporated oxygens will exchange with water under acidic conditions that specifically catalyze the exchange of carbonyl, but not methoxyl, oxygens. That the C-4 carbonyl oxygen is derived from molecular oxygen was shown by the incorporation of three atoms of 18O2 into ubiquinone 8 biosynthesized from added 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. Comparison of ubiquinone 8 and menaquinone 8 from E. coli grown under 18O2 confirmed that the labeled carbonyl oxygen of the [18O2]ubiquinone 8 is incorporated biosynthetically and not by chemical exchange in the cell. It is concluded that the three hydroxylation reactions involved in the pathway for the aerobic biosynthesis of ubiquinone are all catalyzed by monooxygenases. The implications of this study for the anaerobic biosynthesis of ubiquinone 8 in E coli are discussed.

Aerobiosis

Alternative hydroxylases for the aerobic and anaerobic biosynthesis of ubiquinone in Escherichia coli.

The synthesis of ubiquinone under anaerobic conditions was examined in a variety of strains of Escherichia coli K12. All were shown to synthesize appreciable quantities of ubiquinone 8 when grown anaerobically on glycerol in the presence of fumarate. Under these conditions, ubiquinone 8 was in most cases the principal quinone formed, and levels in the range 50--70% of those obtained aerobically were observed. Studies with mutants blocked in the various reactions of the aerobic pathway for ubiquinone 8 synthesis established that under anaerobic conditions three alternative hydroxylation reactions not involving molecular oxygen are used to derive the C-4, -5, and -6 oxygens of ubiquinone 8. Thus, mutants blocked in either of the three hydroxylation reactions of the aerobic pathway (ubiB, ubiH, or ubiF) are each able to synthesize ubiquinone 8 anaerobically, whereas mutants lacking the octaprenyltransferase (ubiA), carboxy-lyase (ubiD), or methyltransferases (ubiE or ubiG) of the aerobic pathway remain blocked anaerobically. The demonstration that E. coli possesses a special mechanism for the anaerobic biosynthesis of ubiquinone suggests that this quinone may play an important role in anaerobic metabolism.

Aerobiosis

Ubiquinone in Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. Some thermodynamic properties.

In Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides chromatophores there are 25 +/- 3 ubiquinone (Q) molecules/reaction center protein. They comprise several thermodynamically and functionally different ubiquinone complements. There are approx. 19 ubiquinones (Em7 = 90 mV) in the main ubiquinone complement which, within experimental resolution, appears thermodynamically homogenous and follows the redox reaction Q + 2e + 2H+ in equilibrium with QH2 from pH 5--9. A method which takes advantage of the 2H+ bound/molecule of Q reduced is described for measuring the time course of light-activated reaction center-driven reduction and oxidation of the 19 Q complement. No stable semiquinones were detected in the constitutents of the 19 Q complement. There are approx. 6 ubiquinones of lower Em which are currently unaccounted for, although one or possibly two of these can be assigned to the quinones of the reaction center protein. The remainder may be associated with the NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase.

Aerobiosis

Disintegration of Rhodospirillum rubrum chromatophore membrane into photoreaction units, reaction centers, and ubiquinone-10 protein with mixture of cholate and deoxycholate.

1. The membrane of Rhodospirillum rubrum chromatophores was disintegrated with mild detergents (cholate and deoxycholate) in order to study the spatial arrangement of the functional proteins in the photochemical apparatus and the electron transport system in the membrane. 2. The components solubilized from the membrane by a mixture of cholate and deoxycholate (C-DOC) were separated into four fractions by molecular-sieve chromatography in the presence of C-DOC; they were designated as F1, F2, F3, and F4 in the order of elution. The fractions were further purified by repeated molecular-sieve chromatography in the presence of C-DOC until each fraction was chromatographically homogeneous. 3. F1 appeared to be conjugated forms of F2. 4. The purified F2 was composed of a rigid complex having a weight of 7 X 10(5) daltons, containing approximately 10 different kinds of protein species with molecular weights of 3.8 X 10(4), 3.6 X 10(4), 3.5 X 10(4), 2.8 X 10(4), 2.7 X 10(4), 2.6 X 10(4), 1.3 X 10(4), 1.2 X 10(4), 1.1 X 10(4), and 1.0 X 10(4). The complex contained 33 bacteriochlorophylls, 4 iron atoms, and 90 phosphates, but no cytochrome, ubiquinone, or phospholipid. It showed the same reaction center activity as chromatophores, indicating that the complex was a unit of the photochemical apparatus (photoreaction unit). Each chromatophore of average size was estimated to possess about 24 photoreaction units. 5. The purified F3 showed an absorbance spectrum characteristic of reaction centers, and contained 3.4 bacteriochlorophylls, 2.0 bacteriopheophytins, and 1.9 acid-labile iron atoms, but no cytochrome or ubiquinone (C-DOC reaction center). It had a weight of 1.2 X 10(5) daltons, and the main components were 4 protein species with molecular weights of 2.8 X 10(4), 2.7 X 10(4), 2.6 X 10(4), and 1.0 X 10(4). 6. The purified F4 showed a molecular weight of about 11,000, and contained one mole of ubiquinone-10 per mole (ubiquinone-10 protein). 7. The reaction center activity of C-DOC reaction centers was stimulated by ubiquinone-10 protein. In addition, the reaction center oxidized reduced cytochrome c2 in the light, provided that ubiquinone-10 protein was present (photo-oxidase activity).

Bacterial Chromatophores

Enzymology of ubiquinone-utilizing electron transfer complexes in nonionic detergent.

The enzymology of isolated succinate: ubiquinone reductase and ubiquinone: cytochrome c reductase in nonionic detergents (alkyl polyoxyethylene derivatives) was studied. In the membrane the two multiprotein complexes and their hydrophobic substrates ubiquinone and dihydroubiquinone, are embedded in a common lipid bilayer. In detergent solutions the complexes are each inserted into micelles. Detergent micelles also serve as a solvent for the complexes hydrophobic substrates. As a consequence the isolated complexes are in a discontinuous phase with respect to their hydrophobic substrates and with respect to each other. Three types of assays were used. Firstly, single enzyme assays in which the hydrophobic substrates had to transfer from free micelles to the complex-bound micelles in order for enzyme reactions to occur. Secondly, assays in which the enzymic reactions were coupled to auxiliary nonenzymic reactions which rapidly converted the hydrophobic products back into substrates within the complex-bound micelle. Dichloroindophenol was used for the oxidation of dihydroubiquinone and dihydroduroquinone for the reduction of ubiquinone. Thirdly, assays in which the succinate: ubiquinone reductase reaction was coupled with the ubiquinone: cytochrome c reductase reaction. With the first type of assay, the kinetics of the substrate transfer reaction was dependent upon the type of detergent. In detergents with small polyoxyethylene head groups the transfer reactions were rate-limiting, and in detergents with large polyoxyethylene head groups the transfer reactions were fast and the enzymic reactions were rate-limiting...

Animals

Inhibition of electron transfer from ferrocytochrome b to ubiquinone, cytochrome c1 and duroquinone by antimycin.

The effect of antimycin on (i) the respiratory activity of the KCN-insensitive pathway of mitochondria of Neurospora grown on chloramphenicol (chloramphenicol-grown) with durohydroquinone and succinate or NADH as substrate, (ii) the electron transfer from the b-type cytochromes to ubiquinone with durohydroquinone as electron donor as well as (iii) the electron transfer from the b-type cytochromes to duroquinone with succinate as electron donor in chloramphenicol-grown Neurospora and beef heart submitochondrial particles was studied. All experiments were performed in the uncoupled state. 1. The respiratory chain of chloramphenicol-grown Neurospora mitochondria branches at ubiquinone into two pathways. Besides the cytochrome oxidase-dependent pathway, a KCN-insensitive branch equiped with a salicylhydroxamate-sensitive oxidase exists. Durohydroquinone, succinate or NADH are oxidized via both pathways. The durohydroquinone oxidation via the KCN-insensitive pathway is inhibited by antimycin, wheras the succinate or NADH oxidation is not. The titer for ful inhibition is one mol antimycin per mol cytochrome b-563 or cytochrome b-557. 2. The electron transfer from durohydroquinone to ubiquinone, which takes place in the KCN-inhibited state, does not occur in the antimycin-inhibited state. 3. The reduction of duroquinone by succinate in the presence of KCN is inhibited by antimycin. The titer for full inhibition is one mol antimycin per mol cytochrome b-566 or cytochrome b-562 for beef heart (or cytochrome b-563 or cytochrome b-557 for Neurospora). 4. When electron transfer from the b-type cytochromes to cytochrome C1, ubiquinone and duroquinone is inhibited by antimycin, the hemes of cytochrome b-566 and cytochrome b-562 (or cytochrome b-563 and cytochrome b-557) are in the reduced state. 5. The experimental results suggest that the two b-type cytochromes form a binary complex the electron transferring activity of which is inhibited by antimycin, the titer for full inhibition being one mol of antimycin per mol of complex. The electron transfer from the b-type cytochromes to ubiquinone is inhibited in a non-linear fashion.

Animals

Aerobic respiration in mutants of Escherichia coli accumulating quinone analogues of ubiquinone.

The ability of three naturally occurring analogues of ubiquinone to function in aerobic respiration in Escherichia coli has been studied. The compounds, which differ from ubiquinone in terms of the substituents on the quinone ring, accumulate in the cytoplasmic membranes of ubiE-, ubiF- and ubiG- mutants. One of the analogues (2-octaprenyl-3-methyl-6-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, NMQ), which lacks the 5-methoxyl group of the benzoquinone ring of ubiquinone promoted the oxidation of NADH, D-lactate and alpha-glycerophosphate but not succinate. Electron transport supported by MMQ was found to be coupled to phosphorylation. In contrast, 2-octaprenyl-6-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, which lacks both the 3-methyl and 5-methoxyl groups of ubiquinone, and 2-octaprenyl-3-methyl-5-hydroxy-6-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, in which the 5-methoxyl group of ubiquinone is replaced by an hydroxyl group, were virtually inactive in the oxidases tested. The ability of MMQ to function in respiration in isolated membranes is consistent with the findings that the growth rate and yield of a ubiF- strain, unlike other ubi- strains, were only slightly lower than those of a ubiF+ strain. The fact that MMQ is active in some but not all oxidases provides further support for the concept that the quinones link the individual dehydrogenases to the respiratory chain and that each dehydrogenase has specific structural requirements for quinone acceptors.

Aerobiosis

Role of ubiquinone in the mitochondrial generation of hydrogen peroxide.

Antimycin-inhibited bovine heart submitochondrial particles generate O2- and H2O2 with succinate as electron donor. H2O2 generation involves the action of the mitochondrial superoxide dismutase, in accordance with the McCord & Fridovich [(1969) j. biol. Chem. 244, 6049-6055] reaction mechanism. Removal of ubiquinone by acetone treatment decreases the ability of mitochondrial preparations to generate O2- and H2O2, whereas supplementation of the depleted membranes with ubiquinone enhances the peroxide-generating activity in the reconstituted membranes. Addition of superoxide dismutase to ubiquinone-reconstituted membranes is essential in order to obtain maximal rates of H2O2 generation since the acetone treatment of the membranes apparently inactivates (or removes) the mitochondrial superoxide dismutase. Parallel measurements of H2O2 production, succinate dehydrogenase and succinate-cytochrome c reductase activities show that peroxide generation by ubiquinone-supplemented membranes is a monotonous function of the reducible ubiquinone content, whereas the other two measured activities reach saturation at relatively low concentrations of reducible quinone. Alkaline treatment of submitochondrial particles causes a significant decrease in succinate dehydrogenase activity and succinate-dependent H2O2 production, which contrasts with the increase of peroxide production by the same particles with NADH as electron donor. Solubilized succinate dehydrogenase generates H2O2 at a much lower rate than the parent submitochondrial particles. It is postulated that ubisemiquinone (and ubiquinol) are chiefly responsible for the succinate-dependent peroxide production by the mitochondrial inner membrane.

Acetone

Polarographic studies on ubiquinone-10 and rhodoquinone bound with chromatophores from Rhodospirillum rubrum.

Redox components bound with chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum, and pure samples of ubiquinone-10 and rhodoquinone were studied polarographically at 24 degrees. In a mixture of ethanol and water (4 : 1, v/v) at pH 7, ubiquinone-10 and rhodoquinone had half-wave potentials (E1/2) OF +43 MV and -63 mV, respectively. For both quinones, values of the electron transfer number (n) were 2 , and plots of E1/2 versus pH formed straight lines with slopes of -30 mV/pH in the neutral pH range; thus, values of the proton transfer number (n-a) were estimated to be 1 for both quinones. When bound with chromatophores, ubiquinone-10 and rhodoquinone had E1/2 values of +50 mV (n=2) and -30 mV (n=2), respectively, at pH 7. Values of (n-a) were estimated to be 1 for ubiquinone-10 and 2 for rhodoquinone. A component (POC-170) thought to be one of the active center bacteriochlorophylls (Liac-890) was characterized; it has E1/2 value of -170 mV at pH 7 and its oxidation-reduction is possibly brought about by dehydrogenation-hydrogenation. Conceivably, the oxidation-reduction sites of ubiquinone-10, rhodoquinone and POC-170 partly, if not all, exist on the surface of chromatophore membrane or project outside the membrane, because of their accessibility to the polarographic electrode.

Bacterial Chromatophores

Sequence of b cytochromes relative to ubiquinone in the electron transport chain of Escherichia coli.

A ubiquinone-deficient mutant, carrying mutations in two genes affecting ubiquinone biosynthesis, has been used, in comparison with a normal strain, to determine the sequence of some of the components of the electron transport chain of Escherichia coli. The amounts of cytochromes reduced during aerobic steady-state conditions were estimated by comparing low-temperature difference spectra of normal or ubiquinone-deficient membranes with either D-lactate or reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide as substrate. From the amounts of cytochromes reduced it was concluded that ubiquinone functions at two sites, one site being between the dehydrogenases and cytochromes and the second site being after cytochromes b562 and b556 but before cytochromes b558, d, and o. The scheme proposed is discussed in relation to the Mitchell protonmotive ubiquinone cycle.

Aerobiosis

Effect of ubiquinone-homologs on the sensitivity of mitochondrial ATPase to energy transfer inhibitors.

Short-chain ubiquinone (UQ-3) abolishes oligomycin sensitivity of ATPase in submitochondrial particles and the effect is reversed by long-chain ubiquinone (UQ-7). Ubiquinone-3 also abolishes DCCD sensitivity of ATPase in submitochondrial particles but the effect is not reversed by long-chain ubiquinones. These data suggest that ubiquinone interferes with energy transfer process by interaction with mitochondrial ATPase.

Adenosine Triphosphatases