Respiratory chain cytochromes

The branch point between the Aox and the cytochrome respiratory chain arises at the ubiquinone pool. These terminal oxidases can be identified by using respiratory inhibitors and are divided as different groups according to the sensitivities or resistances to the inhibitors. Alternative respiration is activated by stress stimuli factors that constrict the electron flow through the cytochrome pathway [137]. However, the roles and the compositions of these pathways are... 

The operation of the cycle produces large quantities of the reduced forms of the nucleotides of adenine with nicotinamide (NAD and NADP) and ribo-flavine (FP). The regeneration of these coenzymes is effected by a transfer of electrons from the reduced forms to the oxygen of the atmosphere. In almost every kind of living cell, this transfer is mediated by some or all of the cytochrome respiratory chain (Section 5.4.3). Most of the organisms that lack all cytochromes have insignificant aerobic metabolism. Few enzymatic differences in the cycle have been demonstrated in mammals, but in the rat there is six times more aconitate hydratase in the heart than in skeletal muscle (Dixon and Webb, 1979). 

Oxidative phosphorylation is an aerobic process. The production of ATP is linked to the transport of electrons to an oxygen molecule by the cytochromic respiratory chain. This oxygen molecule is the final acceptor of the electrons. These reactions occur in the mitochondria. 

Atovaquone, a hydroxynaphthoquinone, selectively inhibits the respiratory chain of protozoan mitochondria at the cytochrome bcl complex (complex III) by mimicking the natural substrate, ubiquinone. Inhibition of cytochrome bcl disrupts the mitochondrial electron transfer chain and leads to a breakdown of the mitochondrial membrane potential. Atovaquone is effective against all parasite stages in humans, including the liver stages. 

Mitochondrial permeability transition involves the opening of a larger channel in the inner mitochondrial membrane leading to free radical generation, release of calcium into the cytosol and caspase activation. These alterations in mitochondrial permeability lead eventually to disruption of the respiratory chain and dqDletion of ATP. This in turn leads to release of soluble intramito-chondrial membrane proteins such as cytochrome C and apoptosis-inducing factor, which results in apoptosis. 

Another pathway is the L-glycerol 3-phosphate shuttle (Figure 11). Cytosolic dihydroxyacetone phosphate is reduced by NADFl to s.n-glycerol 3-phosphate, catalyzed by s,n-glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and this is then oxidized by s,n-glycerol 3-phosphate ubiquinone oxidoreductase to dihydroxyacetone phosphate, which is a flavoprotein on the outer surface of the inner membrane. By this route electrons enter the respiratory chain.from cytosolic NADH at the level of complex III. Less well defined is the possibility that cytosolic NADH is oxidized by cytochrome bs reductase in the outer mitochondrial membrane and that electrons are transferred via cytochrome b5 in the endoplasmic reticulum to the respiratory chain at the level of cytochrome c (Fischer et al., 1985). 

The cytochromes are iron-containing hemoproteins in which the iron atom oscillates between Fe + and Fe + during oxidation and reduction. Except for cytochrome oxidase (previously described), they are classified as dehydrogenases. In the respiratory chain, they are involved as carriers of electrons from flavoproteins on the one hand to cytochrome oxidase on the other (Figure 12-4). Several identifiable cytochromes occur in the respiratory chain, ie, cytochromes b, Cp c, a, and (cytochrome oxidase). Cytochromes are also found in other locations, eg, the endoplasmic reticulum (cytochromes P450 and h, and in plant cells, bacteria, and yeasts. 

Ubiquinone or Q (coenjyme Q) (Figure 12-5) finks the flavoproteins to cytochrome h, the member of the cytochrome chain of lowest redox potential. Q exists in the oxidized quinone or reduced quinol form under aerobic or anaerobic conditions, respectively. The structure of Q is very similar to that of vitamin K and vitamin E (Chapter 45) and of plastoquinone, found in chloroplasts. Q acts as a mobile component of the respiratory chain that collects reducing equivalents from the more fixed flavoprotein complexes and passes them on to the cytochromes. 

Functionally and strucmrally, the components of the respiratory chain are present in the inner mitochondrial membrane as four protein-lipid respiratory chain complexes that span the membrane. Cytochrome c is the only soluble cytochrome and, together with Q, seems to be a more mobile component of the respiratory chain connecting the fixed complexes (Figures 12-7 and 12-8). 

Barbiturates such as amobarbital inhibit NAD-hnked dehydrogenases by blocking the transfer from FeS to Q. At sufficient dosage, they are fatal in vivo. Antin cin A and dimercaprol inhibit the respiratory chain between cytochrome b and cytochrome c. The classic poisons H2S, carbon monoxide, and cyanide inhibit cytochrome oxidase and can therefore totally arrest respiration. Malonate is a competitive inhibitor of succinate dehydrogenase. 

Figure 12-8. Principles of the chemiosmotic theory of oxidative phosphorylation. The main proton circuit is created by the coupling of oxidation in the respiratory chain to proton translocation from the inside to the outside of the membrane, driven by the respiratory chain complexes I, III, and IV, each of which acts as a protonpump. Q, ubiquinone C, cytochrome c F Fq, protein subunits which utilize energy from the proton gradient to promote phosphorylation. Uncoupling agents such as dinitrophenol allow leakage of H" across the membrane, thus collapsing the electrochemical proton gradient. Oligomycin specifically blocks conduction of H" through Fq.

The condition known as fatal infantile mitochondrial myopathy and renal dysfunction involves severe diminution or absence of most oxidoreductases of the respiratory chain. MELAS (mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke) is an inherited condition due to NADHiubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) or cytochrome oxidase deficiency. It is caused by a muta-... 

The well-known fact that in irreversibly damaged cells, respiratory control is lost and is accompanied by oxidation of cytochromes a and as, as well as NADH (Taegtmeyer et al., 1985), was originally thoug it to be due to substrate deficiency (Chance and Williams, 1955) but may be due to an enzymatic defect resulting in an inability to metabolize NADH-linked substrates (Pelican etal., 1987). It seems likely therefore that return of function is dependent on preservation of mitochondrial membrane integrity, and the structure and activities of respiratory chain (R.C) complexes I-IV (Chance and Williams, 1955). 

Alcohol dehydrogenases found in certain microorganisms utilize a pyrroloquino-line quinone (PQQ) or flavin cofactor to pass electrons released upon oxidation of alcohols to the heme electron-acceptor protein, cytochrome c. These membrane-associated alcohol dehydrogenases form part of a respiratory chain, and the energy from fuel oxidation therefore contributes to generation of a proton gradient across... 

The reduction of ground state O2 with organic substances is fairly slow in aqueous or nonaqueous solutions [57] in spite of the high redox potential of O2. The O2 is utilized effectively, however, as the terminal oxidant in the respiratory chain in a biomembrane with redox enzymes composed of membrane proteins such as heme proteins containing cytochrome c oxidase [58-60] or quinol oxidase [61,62]. 

Figure 2.8 The structure of the dimeric cytochrome bcomplex of the respiratory chain, (a) The cave for chemistry constituted by the hollow between the two monomers (the essential dimer ) in a cartoon representation. Reprinted with permission from Smith, 1998. Copyright (1998), American Association for the Advancement of Science, (b) The structure viewed perpendicular to the twofold axis and parallel to the membrane. All of the eleven subunits are completely traced and their sequences assigned. The top of the molecule extends 3.8 nm into the intermembrane space, the middle spans the membrane (4.2 nm), and the bottom extends some 7.5 nm into the matrix. Reprinted with permission from Iwata et al., 1998. Copyright (1998) American Association for the Advancement of Science.

As described earlier, superoxide is a well-proven participant in apoptosis, and its role is tightly connected with the release of cytochrome c. It has been proposed that a switch from the normal four-electron reduction of dioxygen through mitochondrial respiratory chain to the one-electron reduction of dioxygen to superoxide can be an initial event in apoptosis development. This proposal was supported by experimental data. Thus, Petrosillo et al. [104] have shown that mitochondrial-produced oxygen radicals induced the dissociation of cytochrome c from bovine heart submitochondrial particles supposedly via cardiolipin peroxidation. Similarly, it has been found [105] that superoxide elicited rapid cytochrome c release in permeabilized HepG2 cells. In contrast, it was also suggested [106] that it is the release of cytochrome c that inhibits mitochondrial respiration and stimulates superoxide production. 

O Donnell et al. [70] found that LOX and not cyclooxygenase, cytochrome P-450, NO synthase, NADPH oxidase, xanthine oxidase, ribonucleotide reductase, or mitochondrial respiratory chain is responsible for TNF-a-mediated apoptosis of murine fibrosarcoma cells. 15-LOX activity was found to increase sharply in heart, lung, and vascular tissues of rabbits by hypercholesterolemia [71], Schnurr et al. [72] demonstrated that there is an inverse regulation of 12/15-LOXs and phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidases in cells, which balanced the intracellular concentration of oxidized lipids. 

Ubiquinones (coenzymes Q) Q9 and Qi0 are essential cofactors (electron carriers) in the mitochondrial electron transport chain. They play a key role shuttling electrons from NADH and succinate dehydrogenases to the cytochrome b-c1 complex in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Ubiquinones are lipid-soluble compounds containing a redox active quinoid ring and a tail of 50 (Qio) or 45 (Q9) carbon atoms (Figure 29.10). The predominant ubiquinone in humans is Qio while in rodents it is Q9. Ubiquinones are especially abundant in the mitochondrial respiratory chain where their concentration is about 100 times higher than that of other electron carriers. Ubihydroquinone Q10 is also found in LDL where it supposedly exhibits the antioxidant activity (see Chapter 23). 

Mitochondrial DNA is inherited maternally. What makes mitochondrial diseases particularly interesting from a genetic point of view is that the mitochondrion has its own DNA (mtDNA) and its own transcription and translation processes. The mtDNA encodes only 13 polypeptides nuclear DNA (nDNA) controls the synthesis of 90-95% of all mitochondrial proteins. All known mito-chondrially encoded polypeptides are located in the inner mitochondrial membrane as subunits of the respiratory chain complexes (Fig. 42-3), including seven subunits of complex I the apoprotein of cytochrome b the three larger subunits of cytochrome c oxidase, also termed complex IV and two subunits of ATPase, also termed complex V. 

Abnormalities of the respiratoiy chain. These are increasingly identified as the hallmark of mitochondrial diseases or mitochondrial encephalomyopathies [13]. They can be identified on the basis of polarographic studies showing differential impairment in the ability of isolated intact mitochondria to use different substrates. For example, defective respiration with NAD-dependent substrates, such as pyruvate and malate, but normal respiration with FAD-dependent substrates, such as succinate, suggests an isolated defect of complex I (Fig. 42-3). However, defective respiration with both types of substrates in the presence of normal cytochrome c oxidase activity, also termed complex IV, localizes the lesions to complex III (Fig. 42-3). Because frozen muscle is much more commonly available than fresh tissue, electron transport is usually measured through discrete portions of the respiratory chain. Thus, isolated defects of NADH-cytochrome c reductase, or NADH-coenzyme Q (CoQ) reductase suggest a problem within complex I, while a simultaneous defect of NADH and succinate-cytochrome c reductase activities points to a biochemical error in complex III (Fig. 42-3). Isolated defects of complex III can be confirmed by measuring reduced CoQ-cytochrome c reductase activity. 

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