Mitochondrial membrane protein study

Although a few subunits of mitochondrial membrane proteins are coded by mitochondrial DNA and synthesized in the mitochondrial matrix, most membrane proteins including the adenine nucleotide carrier are coded by nuclear genes and synthesized on cytoplasmic ribosomes [80,81], Chloramphenicol, an inhibitor of mitochondrial protein synthesis, does not inhibit incorporation of radioactive leucine into the carrier in growing Neurospora crassa, but cycloheximide, an inhibitor of cytoplasmic protein synthesis, does inhibit leucine incorporation [78]. Also, a yeast nuclear respiratory mutant has been shown to cause a defect in adenine nucleotide transport [81], and the nuclear gene responsible for coding the carrier in yeast is currently being cloned for further studies [82]. 

One of the best-studied examples of protein incorporation is the mitochondrial outer membrane. In yeast and Neurospora crassa none of the outer membrane proteins studied thus far are made as larger precursors. All of these proteins are made on free ribosomes and are incorporated into the outer membrane post-translationally [35,69,99]. The import of the porin (a pore-forming protein) is time and temperature dependent but does not require energy [35,99]. The incorporation of porin in vitro was found to be membrane specific [35]. How is this membrane specificity determined, and what anchors the outer membrane protein to the outer membrane ... 

Werner, Sigurd, and Sebald, Walter, Immunological Techniques for Studies on the Biogenesis of Mitochondrial Membrane Proteins. . 27 109... 

Monoamine oxidases are integral outer mitochondrial membrane proteins that catalyze the oxidative deamination of primary and secondary amines as well as some tertiary amines. MAO occurs as two enzymes, MAO-A and MAO-B, which differ in substrate selectivity and inhibitor sensitivity (Abell and Kwan, 2001 Edmondson et al., 2004 Shih et al., 1999). A number of MAO inhibitors have been developed for clinical use as antidepressants and as neuroprotective drugs. Clinically used drug substances include, among others, moclobemide, a relatively selective reversible MAO-A inhibitor, and L-deprenyl, an irreversible selective inhibitor of MAO-B. In vitro, clorgyline and L-deprenyl are used as selective irreversible inhibitors of MAO-A and B, respectively. (Note For in vitro studies using irreversible inhibitors, preincubation of the irreversible inhibitor with the enzyme prior to initiation of the substrate reaction is required for optimal inhibition.) Expressed MAO-A and MAO-B are not readily available via commercial resources however, MAO-A and MAO-B have been evaluated and are active in subcellular fractions. While monoamine oxidases are located in the mitochondria, many microsomal preparations are contaminated with monoamine oxidases during the preparation of the microsomal subcellular fraction and thus microsomes are sometimes used to evaluate monoamine oxidase activity in combination with selective inhibitors. 

Rat liver mitochondrial membrane proteins, in contrast to other membrane types studied, have considerable )S-conformation, according to IR, ORD, and CD spectral studies by Gordon et ai (1969). The membranes and their structural protein exhibited an absorption band due to helical and/or unordered conformations (near 1650 cm ), and shoulders near 1630 and 1690 cm , attributed to )3-conforma-tions. The inner membranes and structural protein showed the highest proportion of )3-structure. 

While the response to O2 deprivation over a short (e.g., minutes), acute period is characterized mostly by ionie homeostatie alterations, as detailed above, the response to longer-term (e.g., hours, days, months) hypoxia is manifested by alterations in gene expression, protein levels, and a variety of other changes inside and outside cells. Gene transeription and translation of both plasma and mitochondrial membrane proteins in vertebrates and invertebrates have been studied in our laboratory and others. Below are a few examples that illustrate the idea that a number of proteins change their expression and that these have a major impact on excitabflity and metabolism in nerve eells. These ehanges do not take place except after hours and days of O2 deprivation. 

GMBS or sulfo-GMBS have been used for studying carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 in its formation of a complex within the outer mitochondrial membrane (Faye et al., 2007), for investigating protein organization of the postsynaptic density (Liu et al., 2006), and in studying the structure and dynamics of rhodopsin (Jacobsen et al., 2006). 

Since the enzymes involved in PS synthesis are located in ER or MAM, and PSD is exclusively located at the inner mitochondrial membrane, the conversion of PS to PE by PSD has been used as an indicator of PS translocation into the inner mitochondrial membrane (Dennis and Kennedy, 1972 Voelker, 1990). Recent studies have shown that the transport of newly synthesized PS to the outer mitochondrial membrane requires no cytosolic proteins and is probably mediated by direct contact region between MAM and mitochondria (Voelker, 1989 Voelker, 1993 Shiano et al., 1995). It is also suggested that the translocation of PS from the outer to iimer mitochondrial membrane occurs through the contact sites where the two mitochondrial membranes are closely apposed and linked in a stable manner, since agents that dismpt the contact sites such as 1,4-dinitrophenol and adriamycin inhibit the PS transport (Hovius et al., 1992 Voelker, 1991). 

A subsequent study in 2002 of 27 families with a condition known as multiminicore disease (MmD) also linked mutations in SEPNl to disease pathology. Multiple mutations were identified in exons 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11, and the authors also mentioned that this region (RSMD) had been previously linked to MmD. Minicores are lesions by histochemistry of mitochondrial depletion within muscle tissue. The first biochemical study of selenoprotein N aimed to identify the protein localization by immunohistochemistry and found that the primary protein product of several identified mRNAs (splice variants) was a 70 kDa protein present in the endoplasmic reticulum. Two potential ER targeting domains were shown to be present and the peptide expressed from the first exon was shown to be required for localization into the ER. This study also revealed that selenoprotein N was an integral membrane protein that is N-glycosylated. Expression analysis showed pronounced levels in embryonic tissue with a reduction after development and differentiation. 

M. Fabian and co-workers have studied the protein s role in internal electron transfer to the catalytic center of cytochrome c oxidase using stopped-flow kinetics. Mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase, CcO, an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of ferrocytochrome c by dioxygen, is discussed more fully in Section 7.8. In the overall process, O2 is reduced to water, requiring the addition of four electrons and four protons to the enzyme s catalytic center. Electrons enter CcO from the cytosolic side, while protons enter from the matrix side of the inner mitochondrial membrane. This redox reaction. 

Cyt c is associated with the outer surface of the inner mitochondrial membrane. Phospholipids induce conformational changes in the protein and, in certain instances, the haem can convert to the high spin (S = 5/2) form, indicative of a weakening of the ligand field caused by displacement of the sixth ligand (Met-80). This has been associated with the detection of lipid radicals by direct EPR (at 11 K).65 Indeed, peroxidase-type activity is also evident in the reaction of cyt c with lipid hydroperoxides, as studied by spin trapping in conjunction with HPLC and MS.66... 

If preparative or instrumental artifact is ruled out, the universal occurrence of red-shifted Cotton effects with a-helical character in all the membranes studied points to a common property of the proteins in biological membranes. The ORD results from lipid-free mitochondrial structural protein and erythrocyte ghost protein are consistent with assigning the red shift in these membranes to aggregated protein. It is, therefore, reasonable that similar protein-protein association may occur in all membranes. Ionic requirements for membrane stability could then reflect in part the requirements for protein-protein association. To some extent the molecular associations which stabilize membranes, therefore, may be protein-protein as well as lipid-lipid in nature. 

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