scholarly journals The H+/e− stoicheiometry of respiration-linked proton translocation in the cytochrome system of mitochondria

1980 ◽  
Vol 192 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Papa ◽  
Ferruccio Guerrieri ◽  
Michele Lorusso ◽  
Gianfranco Izzo ◽  
Domenico Boffoli ◽  
...  

1. The →H+/e− quotients for proton release from mitochondria associated with electron flow from succinate and duroquinol to O2, ferricyanide or ferricytochrome c, and from NNN′N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine+ascorbate to O2, were determined from rate measurements of electron flow and proton translocation. 2. Care was taken to avoid, or to take into account, unrelated electron flow and proton translocation, which might take place in addition to the oxido-reductions that were the subject of our analysis. Spectrophotometric techniques were chosen to provide accurate measurement of the rate of consumption of oxidants and reductants. The rate of proton translocation was measured with fast pH meters with a precision of 10−3 pH unit. 3. The →H+/O quotient for succinate or duroquinol oxidation was, at neutral pH, 4, when computed on the basis of spectrophotometric determinations of the rate of O2 consumption or duroquinol oxidation. Higher →H+/O quotients for succinate oxidation, obtained from polarographic measurements of O2 consumption, resulted from underestimation of the respiratory rate. 4. The →H+/2e− quotient for electron flow from succinate and duroquinol to ferricyanide or ferricytochrome c ranged from 3.9 to 3.6. 5. Respiration elicited by NNN′N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine+ascorbate by antimycin-inhibited mitochondria resulted in extra proton release in addition to that produced for oxidation of ascorbate to dehydroascorbate. Accurate spectrophotometric measurement of respiration showed that the →H+/e− ratio was only 0.25 and not 0.7–1.0 as obtained with the inadequate polarographic assay of respiration. Proton release was practically suppressed when mitochondria were preincubated aerobically in the absence of antimycin. Furthermore, the rate of scalar proton consumption for water production was lower than that expected from the stoicheiometry. Thus the extra proton release observed during respiration elicited by NNN′N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine+ascorbate is caused by oxidation of endogenous hydrogenated reductants. 6. It is concluded that (i) the →H+/O quotient for the cytochrome system is, at neutral pH, 4 and not 6 or 8 as reported by others; (ii) all the four protons are released during electron flow from quinol to cytochrome c; (iii) the oxidase transfers electrons from cytochrome c to protons from the matrix aqueous phase and does not pump protons from the matrix to the outer aqueous phase.

1981 ◽  
Vol 200 (3) ◽  
pp. 539-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
M K Al-Shawi ◽  
M D Brand

We have measured the H+/O stoichiometry of rat liver mitochondria respiring in a steady-state, using a novel method. This involves measuring the initial rate of H+ back-flow into mitochondria after respiratory inhibition, with the assumption that this is equal to the steady-state H+-ejection rate. Division by the steady-state O2-consumption rate yields the H+/O ratio. The H+/O values obtained were: 8.3 +/- 1.0 (mean +/- S.E.M.) for 3-hydroxybutyrate: 8.2 +/- 0.7 for glutamate plus malate; 6.0 +/- 0.2 for succinate; 4.1 +/- 0.3 for ascorbate/tetramethylphenylenediamine and 3.0 +/- 0.1 for ascorbate/ferrocyanide. These values correspond to H+/O stoichiometries for electron flow to oxygen from NAD+-linked substrates, succinate and cytochrome c of 8, 6 and 2 (charge/O ratio = 4) respectively.


1979 ◽  
Vol 182 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Lorusso ◽  
F Capuano ◽  
D Boffoli ◽  
R Stefanelli ◽  
S Papa

In rat liver mitochondria treated with rotenone, N-ethylmaleimide or oligomycin the expected alkalinization caused by proton consumption for aerobic oxidation of ferrocyanide was delayed with respect to ferrocyanide oxidation, unless carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone was present. 2. When valinomycin or valinomycin plus antimycin were also present, ferricyanide, produced by oxidation of ferrocyanide, was re-reduced by hydrogenated endogenous reductants. Under these circumstances the expected net proton consumption caused by ferrocyanide oxidation was preceded by transient acidification. It is shown that re-reduction of formed ferricyanide and proton release derive from rotenone- and antimycin-resistant oxidation of endogenous reductants through the proton-translocating segments of the respiratory chain on the substrate side of cytochrome c. The number of protons released per electron flowing to ferricyanide varied, depending on the experimental conditions, from 3.6 to 1.5. 3. The antimycin-insensitive re-reduction of ferricyanide and proton release from mitochondria were strongly depressed by 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide. This shows that the ferricyanide formed accepts electrons passing through the protonmotive segments of the respiratory chain at the level of cytochrome c and/or redox components of the cytochrome b-c1 complex situated on the oxygen side of the antimycin-inhibition site. Dibromothymoquinone depressed and duroquinol enhanced, in the presence of antimycin, the proton-release process induced by ferrocyanide respiration. Both quinones enhanced the rate of scalar proton production associated with ferrocyanide respiration, but lowered the number of protons released per electron flowing to the ferricyanide formed. 4. Net proton consumption caused by aerobic oxidation of exogenous ferrocytochrome c by antimycin-supplemented bovine heart mitochondria was preceded by scalar proton release, which was included in the stoicheiometry of 1 proton consumed per mol of ferrocytochrome c oxidized. This scalar proton production was associated with transition of cytochrome c from the reduced to the oxidized form and not to electron flow along cytochrome c oxidase. 5. It is concluded that cytochrome c oxidase only mediates vectorial electron flow from cytochrome c at the outer side to protons that enter the oxidase from the matrix side of the membrane. In addition to this consumption of protons the oxidase does not mediate vectorial proton translocation.


1974 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-553
Author(s):  
Serge N. Vinogradov ◽  
Kamal G. Bitar ◽  
Steven Lowenkron

The mammalian-type cytochrome c of the basidiomycete Ustilago sphaerogena contains in a single polypeptide chain of 107 residues, two histidine residues located at positions 18 and 33, and one methionine residue situated at position 80 (Bitar et al., 1972). The reaction of Ustilago ferricytochrome c with bromoacetate at neutral pH resulted in the modification of histidine-33, but not of histidine-18 or of the invariant methionine residue. The activities of Ustilago cytochrome c with mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase and with NADH–cytochrome c reductase were unaltered by the modification. The equilibrium constants for the formation of low-spin complexes of the ferrihaem octapeptide of horse cytochrome c (residues 14–21, including the haem bound covalently to cysteines 14 and 17) with imidazole, N2-acetylhistidine and monocarboxymethyl derivatives of N2-acetylhistidine were determined spectrophotometrically. Alkylation of the imidazole side-chain group of N2-acetylhistidine resulted in a marked decrease in its ability to form low-spin ferrihaem complexes. These results indicate that in Ustilago ferricytochrome c in solution histidine-33 is not involved in the central co-ordination complex. Since side-chain groups of residues other than histidine and methionine do not appear to be involved in the central complexes of other mammalian-type cytochromes c (Hettinger & Harbury, 1964, 1965; Myer & Harbury, 1965) it is likely that in Ustilago ferricytochrome c in solution at neutral pH, the side-chain groups of histidine-18 and methionine-80 are involved in the central co-ordination complex. The latter is stable over the pH range 2.6–8.4.


1986 ◽  
Vol 236 (3) ◽  
pp. 789-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
P T Quinlan ◽  
A P Halestrap

The effects of hormones on the cytochrome spectra of isolated hepatocytes were recorded under conditions of active gluconeogenesis from L-lactate. Glucagon, phenylephrine, vasopressin and valinomycin, at concentrations that caused stimulation of gluconeogenesis, increased the reduction of the components of the cytochrome bc1 complex, just as has been observed in liver mitochondria isolated from glucagon-treated rats [Halestrap (1982) Biochem. J. 204, 37-47]. The effects of glucagon and phenylephrine were additive. The time courses of the increased reduction of cytochrome c/c1 and NAD(P)H/NAD(P)+ caused by hormones, valinomycin, A23187 and ethanol were measured by dual-beam spectrophotometry and fluorescence respectively. Ethanol (14 mM) produced a substantial rise in NAD(P)H fluorescence, beta-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate and lactate/pyruvate ratios, no change in cytochrome c/c1 reduction, a 10% decrease in O2 consumption and a 60% decrease in gluconeogenesis. Glucagon, phenylephrine and vasopressin caused a substantial and transient rise in NAD(P)H fluorescence, but a sustained increase in cytochrome c/c1 reduction and the rates of O2 consumption and gluconeogenesis. The transience of the fluorescence response was greater in the absence of Ca2+, when the cytochrome c/c1 response also became transient. The fluorescence response was smaller and less transient, but the cytochrome c/c1 response was greater, in the presence of fatty acids. Both responses were greatly decreased by the presence of 1 mM-pent-4-enoate. Valinomycin (2.5 nM) caused a decrease in NAD(P)H fluorescence coincident with an increase in cytochrome c/c1 reduction and the rate of gluconeogenesis and O2 consumption. A23187 (7.5 mM) caused increases in both NAD(P)H fluorescence and cytochrome c/c1 reduction. The effects of hormones and valinomycin on the time courses of NAD(P)H fluorescence, cytochrome c/c1 reduction and light-scattering by hepatocytes were compared with those of 0.5 microM-Ca2+ or 1 nM-valinomycin on the same parameters of isolated liver mitochondria. It is concluded that hormones increase respiration by hepatocytes in a biphasic manner. An initial Ca2+-dependent activation of mitochondrial dehydrogenases rapidly increases the mitochondrial [NADH], which is followed by a volume-mediated stimulation of fatty acid oxidation and electron flow between NADH and cytochrome c. 10. Amytal (0.5 mM) was able to reverse the effects of hormones on the reduction of cytochromes c/c1 and the rates of gluconeogenesis and O2 consumption without significantly lowering tissue [ATP].(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 706-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Chr. Petersen ◽  
Hans Degn ◽  
Peter Nicholls

1. Coupled, cytochrome-c-depleted ('stripped') rat liver mitochondria reducing oxygen in the presence of exogenous cytochrome c, with succinate or ascorbate as substrates, show marked declines in the steady-state reduction of cytochrome c in excess oxygen on addition of uncouplers. Calculated ratios of maximal turnover in the uncoupled state and in the energized state for the cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) reaction lie between 3 and 6, as obtained with reconstituted oxidase-containing vesicles. The succinate-cytochrome c reductase activity in such mitochondria shows a smaller response to uncoupler than that of the oxidase.2. The respiration rates of uncoupled mitochondria oxidizing ascorbate in the presence of added cytochrome c follow a Michaelis–Menten relationship with respect to oxygen concentration, in accordance with the pattern found previously with the solubilized oxidase. But succinate oxidation tends to give nonlinear concave-upward double-reciprocal plots of respiration rate against oxygen concentration, in accordance with the pattern found previously with intact uncoupled mitochondria.3. From simultaneous measurements of cytochrome c steady-state reduction, respiration rate, and oxygen concentration during succinate oxidation under uncoupled conditions it is found that at full reduction of cytochrome c, apparent Km for oxygen is 0.9 μM and the maximal oxidase (aa3) turnover is 400 s−1 (pH 7.4, 30 °C).4. The redox state of cytochrome c in uncoupled systems reflects a simple steady state; the redox state of cytochrome c in energized systems tends towards an equilibrium condition with the terminal cytochrome a3, whose apparent potential under these conditions is more negative than that of cytochrome c.


1969 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 797-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jurtshuk ◽  
Ann K. May ◽  
Leodocia M. Pope ◽  
Patricia R. Aston

A comparative study was undertaken to examine the succinate and terminal oxidase activities of the electron-transport systems of Azotobacter vinelandii and mammalian mitochondria. For succinate oxidation, both systems exhibited similar relative specificities for the electron acceptors phenazine methosulfate, O2, methylene blue, K3Fe(CN)6, nitrotetrazolium blue, 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCIP), and cytochrome c. They differed in that DCIP and cytochrome c were less active in the Azotobacter electron-transport system (R3 fraction) than in the bovine mitochondrial system. Comparative studies with known inhibitors of mammalian mitochondrial electron-transport demonstrated that the succinoxidase activity of the Azotobacter R3 fraction was, at least, 2000 times less sensitive to antimycin A, 700 times less sensitive to thenoyl-trifluoroacetone, and 30 times less sensitive to 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline-N-oxide. Both systems were equally sensitive to KCN, p-chloromercuribenzoic acid, and chlorpromazine.The ability of the two systems to use tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD) and its derivatives as electron donors, for terminal oxidation, was also similar. Studies on steady state reduction revealed that in the Azotobacter R3 fraction, the cytochromes (a2, a1, b1, c4 + c5) and flavoprotein components were reduced substantially by succinate as well as by TMPD in the presence of ascorbate. Ultrastructure analyses of the Azotobacter R3 electron-transport fraction revealed the vesicular membranous components identified as oxidosomes according to the terminology used by DeLey and contained spherical headpiece units of 80 Å in diameter which appeared to be morphologically identical with the tripartite units or the elementary particles described by Green and associates, viz., Kopaczyk et al., and by Fernandez-Moran et al.


1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1175-1182 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ishaque ◽  
A. Donawa ◽  
M. I. H. Aleem

The respiratory chain system of heterotrophically grown Pseudomonas saccharophila contained cytochromes of the b, c, a, and o types and also the NADH and succinate oxidase enzyme systems. Cell-free extracts catalyzed phosphorylation coupled to the oxidation of NADH, succinate, and ascorbate (plus cytochrome c). The P/O ratios were in the range of 1.00 for generated NADH, 0.29 for added NADH, 0.50 for succinate, and 0.25 for ascorbate (plus cytochrome c).The oxidative phosphorylation was uncoupled by 2,4-dinitrophenol, 2,6-dibromophenol, pentachlorophenol, m-chlorocarbonyl cyanide phenylhydrazone, and dicumarol without any inhibition of oxygen consumption. Phosphorylation coupled to NADH oxidation was completely inhibited by the flavoprotein inhibitors such as rotenone, amytal, and atabrine; these inhibitors had no effect, however, on the ATP synthesis associated with succinate oxidation. Antimycin A or 2-n-nonyl-4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide as well as cyanide or azide at low concentrations completely inhibited the phosphate esterification coupled to the oxidation of NADH or succinate, but had little or no effect on the oxygen consumption. Relatively higher concentrations of oligomycin were required for a complete inhibition of the electron-transport-linked ATP formation.


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