Biochemical and ultrastructural studies on flight muscle mitochondria from the blowfly Calliphora erythrocephala following treatment by chloramphenicol and ethidium bromide

1980 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-306
Author(s):  
B. Ashour ◽  
M. Tribe ◽  
S. Danks ◽  
P. Whittaker

Adult blowflies were injected during the first day after eclosion with various concentrations of the drugs chloramphenicol and ethidium bromide. Previous experiments had shown that these drugs inhibit mitochondrial protein synthesis and at high doses increase mortality. Mitochondria isolated from blowflies 24 h after drug injection revealed a considerable decrease in oxidation rates when pyruvate plus proline were used as substrates. There was also a reduction up to 50% in the respiratory control ratios obtained, though there was little change in the measurable ADP: O ratios. This loss in activity was commensurate with the finding that both drugs block the rapid increase in protein synthesis (expressed as mitochondrial protein content) during the period of observation. Examination of the cytochrome difference spectra 24 h after treatment again showed a decline in all major cytochrome peaks with increasing concentration of both drugs. Examination of mitochondrial morphology in situ using electron microscopy revealed degenerative changes 24 h after treatment with high doses of both drugs. In particular, irregular alignment of cristae and extensive vacuolation were observed within the mitochondria. The extent of decreased biochemical activity and morphological damage to mitochondria was clearly dependent on the concentration of drugs administered and such changes may be attributed primarily to a loss of certain polypeptide subunits coded for by mitochondrial DNA and synthesized on mitochondrial ribosomes.

1980 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-289
Author(s):  
B. Ashour ◽  
M. Tribe ◽  
P. Whittaker

The effects of cycloheximide, chloramphenicol and ethidium bromide on the blowfly Calliphora erythrocephala were studied. In the first set of experiments, toxic levels were determined by examining activity and mortality of flies after injection of various doses of each drug. In the second set of experiments, the effect of drug treatment on flight muscle mitochondrial protein synthesis was determined in relation to age by following the incorporation of radioactively labelled amino acid, [3H]leucine, into mitochondrial protein in vivo. To confirm the developmental changes in flight muscle mitochondria, mitochondrial protein content per fly was estimated from emergence to 30 days of age; the highest protein level was recorded between 6 and 10 days of age. Maximum incorporation of labelled amino acid was found in newly emerged flies, and this age group was also the most sensitive to drug treatment. By the time flies had reached 6–10 days of age, amino acid incorporation had declined to about two-thirds of the rate obtained with newly emerged flies. With 6–10-day old flies, however, the highest value for flight muscle mitochondrial protein per fly was recorded, and these flies also displayed the greatest resistance to drug treatment of any age group investigated. For example, inhibition of protein synthesis following injection of 300 micrograms/fly of chloramphenicol was only about 15% below the untreated control in 6–10-day-old flies, whereas in all other age groups investigated, inhibition ranged between 30 and 50% of the controls. At 15–20 days of age, protein synthesis decreased to a third of the newly emerged flies' rate and continued to decrease further in the 30–35-day-old group, where it was less than one sixth of the youngest age group. The effect of drug treatment on these older flies was also less than that observed with newly emerged flies, especially after chloramphenicol and ethidium bromide injections. The effect of cycloheximide however, was much the same in all age groups, with inhibition of protein synthesis being 80–90% of controls. Surprisingly, cycloheximide (1–10 micrograms/fly) had little initial effect on mortality of young flies, despite almost complete blockage in the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins at these concentrations. 95% mortality occurred only when doses of 20 micrograms/fly were given. In contrast, high doses of chloramphenicol (400 micrograms/fly) and ethidium bromide (15 micrograms/fly) caused almost total mortality a few hours after injection, although such doses never induced more than about 50% inhibition of mitochondrial protein synthesis. Each drug therefore has a different site of inhibition and induces different mortality effects. Possible explanations for these differences in mortality are discussed.


1990 ◽  
Vol 259 (3) ◽  
pp. E413
Author(s):  
E E McKee ◽  
B L Grier

The rates of synthesis of mitochondrial proteins by both the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial protein synthetic systems, as well as parameters of respiration, were measured and compared in mitochondria isolated from fresh, control perfused, and insulin-perfused rat hearts. The respiratory control ratio (RCR) in mitochondria from fresh hearts was 8.1 +/- 0.4 and decreased to 6.0 +/- 0.2 (P less than 0.001 vs. fresh) in mitochondria from control perfused hearts and to 6.7 +/- 0.2 (P less than 0.005 vs. fresh and P less than 0.02 vs. control perfused) for mitochondria from hearts perfused in the presence of insulin. A positive correlation between the RCR and the rate of mitochondrial translation was demonstrated in mitochondria from fresh hearts. In mitochondria isolated from control perfused hearts, the rate of protein synthesis decreased to 84 +/- 3% of the fresh rate after 30 min of perfusion and fell further to 64 +/- 3% after 3 h of perfusion. The inclusion of insulin in the perfusion buffer stimulated mitochondrial protein synthesis 1.2-fold by 1 h (P less than 0.005) and 1.34-fold by 3 h of perfusion (P less than 0.001). The addition of insulin to 1-h control perfused hearts shifted the rate of mitochondrial protein synthesis from the control level to the insulin-perfused level within 30 min of additional perfusion, whereas 1 h was required to shift the RCR values of these mitochondria from control levels to insulin-perfused levels. Thus, whereas RCR was a useful predictor of mitochondrial translation rates, it did not account for the effects of insulin on mitochondrial translation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


1986 ◽  
Vol 239 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
M A Brailsford ◽  
A G Thompson ◽  
N Kaderbhai ◽  
R B Beechey

We report the isolation of mitochondria from the endosperm of castor beans (Ricinus communis). These mitochondria oxidized succinate, external NADH, malate and pyruvate with respiratory-control and ADP/O ratios consistent with those found previously with mitochondria from other plant sources. The mitochondria exhibited considerable sensitivity to the electron-transport-chain inhibitors antimycin A and cyanide when oxidizing succinate and external NADH. Pyruvate-dependent O2 uptake was relatively insensitive to these inhibitors, although the residual O2 uptake could be inhibited by salicylhydroxamic acid. We conclude that a cyanide-insensitive alternative terminal oxidase is functional in these mitochondria. However, electrons from the succinate dehydrogenase or external NADH dehydrogenase seem to have no access to this pathway. There is little interconnection between the salicylhydroxamic acid-sensitive and cyanide-sensitive pathways of electron transport. alpha-Cyanocinnamate and its analogues, compound UK5099 [alpha-cyano-beta-(1-phenylindol-3-yl)acrylate] and alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate, were all found to be potent non-competitive inhibitors of pyruvate oxidation in castor-bean mitochondria. The accumulation of pyruvate by castor-bean mitochondria was determined by using a silicone-oil-centrifugation technique. The accumulation was shown to observe Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with a Km for pyruvate of 0.10 mM and a Vmax. of 0.95 nmol/min per mg of mitochondrial protein. However, the observed rates of pyruvate accumulation were insufficient to account for the pyruvate oxidation rates found in the oxygen-electrode studies. We were able to demonstrate that this is due to the immediate export of the accumulated radiolabel in the form of malate and citrate. Compound UK5099 inhibited the accumulation of [2-14C]pyruvate by castor-bean mitochondria at concentrations similar to those required to inhibit pyruvate oxidation.


2001 ◽  
Vol 114 (19) ◽  
pp. 3565-3574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akemi Kawai ◽  
Shuh-ichi Nishikawa ◽  
Aiko Hirata ◽  
Toshiya Endo

Ssc1p, a member of the Hsp70 family in the mitochondrial matrix of budding yeast, mediates protein import into mitochondria and prevents irreversible aggregation of proteins in the mitochondrial matrix during folding/assembly or at elevated temperature. Here, we show that functional inactivation of the mitochondrial Hsp70 system causes aggregation of mitochondria. When temperature-sensitive mitochondrial Hsp70 mutant cells were incubated at restrictive temperature, a tubular network of mitochondria was collapsed to form aggregates. Inhibition of protein synthesis in the cytosol did not suppress the mitochondrial aggregation and functional impairment of Tim23, a subunit of mitochondrial protein translocator in the inner membrane, did not cause mitochondrial aggregation. Therefore defects of the Hsp70 function in protein import into mitochondria or resulting accumulation of precursor forms of mitochondrial proteins outside the mitochondria are not the causal reason for the aberrant mitochondrial morphology. By contrast, deletion of Mdj1p, a functional partner for mitochondrial Hsp70 in prevention of irreversible protein aggregation in the matrix, but not in protein import into mitochondria, caused aggregation of mitochondria, which was enhanced at elevated temperature (37°C). The aggregation of mitochondria at 37°C was reversed when the temperature was lowered to 23°C unless protein synthesis was blocked. On the basis of these results, we propose that the mitochondrial matrix contains a protein that is responsible for the maintenance of mitochondrial morphology and requires mitochondrial Hsp70 for its function.


1974 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 755-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas B. Galper

HeLa cell mitochondrial proteins have been shown to be the products of two separate protein-synthesizing systems; one, the general cellular mechanism, sensitive to inhibition by cycloheximide, the other, a specific mitochondrial system subject to inhibition by low concentrations of chloramphenicol (Galper, J. B., and J. E. Darnell. 1971. J. Mol. Biol 57:363). Preliminary data have suggested that a mitochondrial N-formyl-methionyl-tRNA (f-Met-tRNA) might be the initiator tRNA in the latter (Galper, J. B., and J. E. Darnell. 1969. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 34:205; 1971. J. Mol. Biol. 57:363). It is demonstrated here that the synthesis of these endogenous mitochondrial proteins is also subject to inhibition by ethidium bromide and decays with a half-life of 1½–2 h in cultures incubated with low concentrations of this dye. The role of formylated f-Met-tRNA as the initiator tRNA in the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins is supported by data from several experiments. The rates of ethidium bromide inhibition of both the charging of f-Met-tRNA and of the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins are strikingly similar. Inhibition by aminopterin of the formylation of f-Met-tRNA greatly depresses the rate of mitochondrial-specific protein synthesis. In the absence of the synthesis of these proteins, respiration, the levels of cytochromes a–a3 and b, and the number of mitochondrial cristae are decreased. The implications of these findings as they relate to mitochondrial biogenesis are discussed.


1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (6) ◽  
pp. R1238-R1246 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. Kwast ◽  
S. C. Hand

Optimal conditions were developed for measuring rates of protein synthesis in isolated mitochondria from encysted embryos of Artemia franciscana to 1) identify the required chemical constituents, 2) assess the influence of extramitochondrial pH on protein synthesis, and 3) investigate potential mechanisms coordinating nuclear and mitochondrial gene expression. Isolation procedures resulted in intact, highly coupled mitochondria [respiratory control ratio = 6.48 +/- 0.43 (SE), n = 21]. Requirements for maximal rates of protein synthesis, measured as incorporation of [3H]leucine (60 microM), included an oxidizable carbon source (10 mM succinate), adenine nucleotides (1.5 mM ADP), phosphate (10 mM), K+ (125 mM), Mg2+ (10 mM), amino acids (0.3 mM of each), sucrose or trehalose (500 mM), EGTA (1 mM), and bovine serum albumin (1 mg/ml). Rates were linear for 60 min at 25 degrees C (r = 0.99). Fluorography of translated products revealed 13 peptides. Previous research has shown that anoxia-induced acidification of intracellular pH (pHi) results in suppression of protein biosynthesis, as judged by cytochrome-c oxidase synthesis. In the present study, mitochondrial protein synthesis was acutely sensitive to external pH, with 80% inhibition observed by lowering pH from 7.5 to 6.8. Thus acidification of pHi may serve as one intracellular signal contributing to a coordinated suppression of both cytoplasmic and mitochondrial protein synthesis during transitions from active to anoxia-induced quiescent states.


2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (14) ◽  
pp. jcs240374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Lee ◽  
Junjie Gao ◽  
Stefan J. Siira ◽  
Anne-Marie Shearwood ◽  
Judith A. Ermer ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe mitochondrial inner membrane contains a unique phospholipid known as cardiolipin (CL), which stabilises the protein complexes embedded in the membrane and supports its overall structure. Recent evidence indicates that the mitochondrial ribosome may associate with the inner membrane to facilitate co-translational insertion of the hydrophobic oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) proteins into the inner membrane. We generated three mutant knockout cell lines for the CL biosynthesis gene Crls1 to investigate the effects of CL loss on mitochondrial protein synthesis. Reduced CL levels caused altered mitochondrial morphology and transcriptome-wide changes that were accompanied by uncoordinated mitochondrial translation rates and impaired respiratory chain supercomplex formation. Aberrant protein synthesis was caused by impaired formation and distribution of mitochondrial ribosomes. Reduction or loss of CL resulted in divergent mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum stress responses. We show that CL is required to stabilise the interaction of the mitochondrial ribosome with the membrane via its association with OXA1 (also known as OXA1L) during active translation. This interaction facilitates insertion of newly synthesised mitochondrial proteins into the inner membrane and stabilises the respiratory supercomplexes.


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