scholarly journals Spectrophotometric studies of acyl-coenzyme A synthetases of rat liver mitochondria

1970 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. Garland ◽  
D. W. Yates ◽  
B. A. Haddock

1. Deca-2,4,6,8-tetraenoic acid is a substrate for both ATP-specific (EC 6.2.1.2 or 3) and GTP-specific (EC 6.2.1.–) acyl-CoA synthetases of rat liver mitochondria. The enzymic synthesis of decatetraenoyl-CoA results in new spectral characteristics. The difference spectrum for the acyl-CoA minus free acid has a maximum at 376nm with εmM 34. Isosbestic points are at 345nm and 440nm. 2. The acylation of CoA by decatetraenoate in mitochondrial suspensions can be continuously measured with a dual-wavelength spectrophotometer. 3. By using this technique, three distinct types of acyl-CoA synthetase activity were demonstrated in rat liver mitochondria. One of these utilized added CoA and ATP, required added Mg2+ and corresponded to a previously described `external' acyl-CoA synthetase. The other two acyl-CoA synthetase activities utilized intramitochondrial CoA and did not require added Mg2+. Of these two `internal' acyl-CoA synthetases, one was insensitive to uncoupling agents, was inhibited by phosphate or arsenate, and corresponded to the GTP-specific enzyme. The other corresponded to the ATP-specific enzyme. 4. Atractylate inhibited the activity of the two internal acyl-CoA synthetases only when the energy source was added ATP. 5. The amount of intramitochondrial CoA acylated by decatetraenoate was independent of whether the internal ATP-specific or GTP-specific acyl-CoA synthetase was active. It is concluded that these two internal acyl-CoA synthetases have access to the same intramitochondrial pool of CoA. 6. The amount of intramitochondrial CoA that could be acylated with decatetraenoate was decreased by the addition of palmitoyl-dl-carnitine, 2-oxoglutarate, or pyruvate. These observations indicated that pyruvate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.4.1), oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.4.2), carnitine palmitoyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.–), citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7), and succinyl-CoA synthetase (EC 6.2.1.4) all have access to the same intramitochondrial pool of CoA as do the two internal acyl-CoA synthetases.

1969 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 597-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Shepherd ◽  
P. B. Garland

1. Citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7) was purified 750-fold from rat liver. 2. Measurements of the Michaelis constants for the substrates of citrate synthase gave values of 16μm for acetyl-CoA and 2μm for oxaloacetate. Each value is independent of the concentration of the other substrate. 3. The inhibition of citrate synthase by ATP, ADP and AMP is competitive with respect to acetyl-CoA. With respect to oxaloacetate the inhibition by AMP is competitive, but the inhibition by ADP and ATP is mixed, being partially competitive. 4. At low concentrations of both substrates the inhibition by ATP is sigmoidal and a Hill plot exhibits a slope of 2·5. 5. The pH optimum of the enzyme is 8·7, and is not significantly affected by ATP. 6. Mg2+ inhibits citrate synthase slightly, but relieves the inhibition caused by ATP in a complex manner. 7. At constant total adenine nucleotide concentration made up of various proportions of ATP, ADP and AMP, the activity of citrate synthase is governed by the concentration of the sum of the energy-rich phosphate bonds of ADP and ATP. 8. The sedimentation coefficient of the enzyme, as measured by activity sedimentation, is 6·3s, equivalent to molecular weight 95000.


1976 ◽  
Vol 159 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Grunwald ◽  
H Z Hill

Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in rat liver mitochondria can be released by detergent. The released activity is separated by chromatography into two peaks. One peak has the kinetic behaviour and mobility similar to the soluble sex-linked enzyme, whereas the other peak is similar to the microsomal hexose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase. There is no evidence for the existence of a new glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in rat liver mitochondria.


1969 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 589-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. König ◽  
D. G. Nicholls ◽  
P. B. Garland

1. The effects of succinate oxidation on pyruvate and also isocitrate oxidation by rat liver mitochondria were studied. 2. Succinate oxidation was without effect on pyruvate and isocitrate oxidation when respiration was maximally activated with ADP. 3. When respiration was partially inhibited by atractylate, succinate oxidation severely inhibited the oxidation of pyruvate and isocitrate. 4. This inhibitory effect of succinate was associated with a two- to three-fold increase in the reduction of mitochondrial NAD+ but no change in the reduction of cytochrome b. 5. It is concluded that, in the partially energy-controlled state, respiration is more severely inhibited at the first phosphorylating site than at the other two. 6. The effects of succinate oxidation are compared with those of palmitoylcarnitine oxidation. It is concluded that a rapid flow of electrons directly into the respiratory chain at the level of cytochrome b is in itself inadequate to inhibit the oxidation of intramitochondrial NADH. 7. The effects of succinate oxidation on pyruvate oxidation were similar in rat heart and liver mitochondria.


1959 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert L. Lehninger ◽  
Betty Lou Ray ◽  
Marion Schneider

The in vitro swelling action of L-thyroxine on rat liver mitochondria as examined photometrically represents an acceleration of a process which the mitochondria are already inherently capable of undergoing spontaneously, as indicated by the identical kinetic characteristics and the extent of thyroxine-induced and spontaneous swelling, the nearly identical pH dependence, and the fact that sucrose has a specific inhibitory action on both types of swelling. However, thyroxine does not appear to be a "catalyst" or coenzyme since it does not decrease the temperature coefficient of spontaneous swelling. The temperature coefficient is very high, approximately 6.0 near 20°. Aging of mitochondria at 0° causes loss of thyroxine sensitivity which correlates closely with the loss of bound DPN from the mitochondria, but not with loss of activity of the respiratory chain or with the efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation. Tests with various respiratory chain inhibitors showed that the oxidation state of bound DPN may be a major determinant of thyroxine sensitivity; the oxidation state of the other respiratory carriers does not appear to influence sensitivity to thyroxine. These facts and other considerations suggest that a bound form of mitochondrial DPN is the "target" of the action of thyroxine. The thyroxine-induced swelling is not reversed by increasing the osmolar concentration of external sucrose, but can be "passively" or osmotically reversed by adding the high-particle weight solute polyvinylpyrrolidone. The mitochondrial membrane becomes more permeable to sucrose during the swelling reaction. On the other hand, thyroxine-induced swelling can be "actively" reversed by ATP in a medium of 0.15 M KCl or NaCl but not in a 0.30 M sucrose medium. The action of ATP is specific; ADP, Mn++, and ethylenediaminetetraacetate are not active. It is concluded that sucrose is an inhibitor of the enzymatic relationship between oxidative phosphorylation and the contractility and permeability properties of the mitochondrial membrane. Occurrence of different types of mitochondrial swelling, the intracellular factors affecting the swelling and shrinking of mitochondria, as well as the physiological significance of thyroxine-induced swelling are discussed.


1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 1089-1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Diaz Borges ◽  
A. D'Iorio

Solubilized rat liver mitochondria were subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The monoamine oxidase activity was localized directly on the gel with radioactive substrates (serotonin, benzylamine, and tyramine). Serotonin and tyramine monoamine oxidase activity separated in several bands which migrated to the anode and cathode whereas benzylamine activity was localized in one band. This band was demonstrated only when the electrophoresis was run from cathode to anode. Each one of tyramine and serotonin activities could be found devoid of the other two activities. Benzylamine activity could be separated from the serotonin activity though not from the tyramine activity. The detection of monoamine oxidase with the tetrazolium staining provided a localization of the enzyme activity which was different from that observed using radioactive substrates. These results, in accordance with those previously obtained by us with sucrose gradient electrophoresis of the same preparation, support the existence of different enzymes for the oxidative deamination of benzylamine and serotonin. On the other hand our results did not eliminate the possibility of overlapping substrate specificity of tyramine activity with those of serotonin and benzylamine activities.


1997 ◽  
Vol 327 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesare INDIVERI ◽  
Annamaria TONAZZI ◽  
Italo STIPANI ◽  
Ferdinando PALMIERI

The mechanism and the electrical nature of ornithine/citrulline exchange has been investigated in proteoliposomes reconstituted with the ornithine/citrulline carrier purified from rat liver mitochondria. The stoichiometry of the exchanging substrates was close to 1:1. The exchange was not affected by inducing electrogenic flux of K+ with valinomycin. In contrast, the pH gradient generated by the K+/H+ exchanger nigericin in the presence of an outwardly directed K+ gradient stimulated the ornithineout/citrullinein exchange, but not the ornithine/ornithine homoexchange. Experiments in which either the internal or the external pH was varied, while keeping constant the pH in the other compartment, indicated that maximal exchange rates are found at pH 6 in the compartment containing citrulline and at pH 8 in the compartment containing ornithine. Changes in fluorescence of the pH indicator pyranine, included inside the proteoliposomes, showed that the exchanges ornithineout/citrullinein and citrullineout/ornithinein are accompanied by translocation of H+ in the same direction as citrulline. It is concluded that the mitochondrial ornithine/citrulline carrier catalyses an electroneutral exchange of ornithine+ for citrulline plus an H+. A reasonable model is one in which ornithine binds to a deprotonated carrier and citrulline to a protonated carrier and both substrate-carrier complexes are neutral. The physiological implications of this transport process are discussed.


1973 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Sánchez ◽  
David G. Nicholls ◽  
David N. Brindley

1. The specific activities for palmitoyl-CoA synthetase and for sn-glycerol 3-phosphate esterification, with palmitoyl-CoA generated either by the endogenous synthetase or from palmitoyl-(-)-carnitine, CoA and excess of carnitine palmitoyltransferase, were measured with rat liver mitochondria. 2. The mean specific activity of palmitoyl-CoA synthetase was approximately five- and seven-fold the rates of sn-glycerol 3-phosphate esterification from palmitate and palmitoyl-(-)-carnitine respectively. No significant correlation was found in different rats between the activities of palmitoyl-CoA synthetase and sn-glycerol 3-phosphate esterification from either acyl precursor. However, there was a significant correlation (r=0.83, P<0.001) between the rates of glycerolipid synthesis from palmitate and palmitoyl-(-)-carnitine. 3. The mean molar composition of the glycerolipid synthesized from palmitate was 58% lysophosphatidate, 31% phosphatidate and 11% neutral lipid. With palmitoyl-(-)-carnitine the equivalent values were 70, 23 and 7%, which were significantly different. 4. When palmitoyl-CoA synthetase had been inactivated by 60–70% after preincubation of mitochondria at 37°C, it became rate-limiting in glycerolipid biosynthesis. Additions of 1–5mm-ATP prevented inactivation of palmitoyl-CoA synthetase. 5. Preincubation also inhibited the oxidation of palmitate, palmitoyl-CoA, palmitoyl-(-)-carnitine and malate plus glutamate. These inhibitions could not be prevented by addition of ATP. 6. Diversion of palmitoyl-CoA to form palmitoyl-(-)-carnitine did not inhibit sn-glycerol 3-phosphate esterification. 7. The palmitoyl-CoA pool synthesized by the palmitoyl-CoA synthetase was augmented by adding partially purified synthetase or carnitine palmitoyltransferase and palmitoyl-(-)-carnitine. No stimulation of palmitate incorporation into glycerolipids occurred. 8. At low concentrations of Mg2+, palmitate, ATP and CoA the velocity with palmitoyl-CoA synthetase decreased more than that of glycerolipid synthesis from palmitate. 9. It is concluded that in the presence of optimum substrate concentrations the activity of sn-glycerol 3-phosphate acyltransferase and not of palmitoyl-CoA synthetase is rate-limiting in the synthesis of phosphatidate and lysophosphatidate in isolated rat liver mitochondria.


Author(s):  
E. A. Elfont ◽  
R. B. Tobin ◽  
D. G. Colton ◽  
M. A. Mehlman

Summary5,-5'-diphenyl-2-thiohydantoin (DPTH) is an effective inhibitor of thyroxine (T4) stimulation of α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase in rat liver mitochondria. Because this finding indicated a possible tool for future study of the mode of action of thyroxine, the ultrastructural and biochemical effects of DPTH and/or thyroxine on rat liver mere investigated.Rats were fed either standard or DPTH (0.06%) diet for 30 days before T4 (250 ug/kg/day) was injected. Injection of T4 occurred daily for 10 days prior to sacrifice. After removal of the liver and kidneys, part of the tissue was frozen at -50°C for later biocheailcal analyses, while the rest was prefixed in buffered 3.5X glutaraldehyde (390 mOs) and post-fixed in buffered 1Z OsO4 (376 mOs). Tissues were embedded in Araldlte 502 and the sections examined in a Zeiss EM 9S.Hepatocytes from hyperthyroid rats (Fig. 2) demonstrated enlarged and more numerous mitochondria than those of controls (Fig. 1). Glycogen was almost totally absent from the cytoplasm of the T4-treated rats.


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