Membrane mitochondrial

In all our studies on this diverse range of systems, we have been led back at some stage to the properties and function of the mitochondrial membrane. Seen in retrospect, this is not surprising, as the products of the mitochondrial protein-synthesizing system are all components of the inner mitochondrial membrane, and the mitochondrial replication, transcription, and translation systems are all inner-membrane-associated to some extent. 

The present short survey of the field is, therefore, divided roughly into two parts The first is concerned with the general properties of yeast mitochondrial membranes and the techniques by which they may be studied the second is a summary of some recent results on the effects of change in mitochondrial lipids on membrane synthesis and properties. The results illustrate the key role played by the inner membrane in the determination of the behavior of systems that are well known to be membrane-associated, as well as the less obvious membrane involvement in DNA replication and transcription. 

Phospholipids comprise only 60% of the total yeast mitochondrial lipid, compared to about 90% in mammalian mitochondria. The yeast mitochondrial neutral lipids are composed mainly of sterol, free fatty acids, and triglycerides. The proportion of sterol is high, the major sterol—ergos-terol—occurring at a concentration of 40-70 Mg/mg protein, while the cholesterol content of guinea pig liver mitochondria is only 2 Mg/mg protein.  

The Cytoplasmic and Mitochondrial Protein-Synthesizing Systems Their Properties and Role in Mitochondrial Membrane Synthesis 

Mitochondrial proteins arise both from the cytoplasmic protein-synthesizing system and the mitochondrial protein-synthesizing system. The proteins of the outer membrane are apparently synthesized entirely by the former, while the inner membrane is composed of products of both protein-synthesizing systems (for review Linnane et The differential effects of antibiotics on the protein-synthesizing systems have been used to estimate the total contribution of the mitochondrial system to the organelle. It has been shown that in catabolite-derepressed cells, the mitochondria synthesize about 10% of the total mitochondrial protein, while in ca-tabolite-repressed cells, the mitochondrial contribution is reduced to 4% of the total mitochondrial protein. 

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HisN03,(CH3)3N + -CH2 CH0H CH2C00-. Isolated from skeletal muscle. It acts as a carrier for ethanoyl groups and fatty acyl groups across the mitochondrial membrane during the biosynthesis or oxidation of fatty acids. 

The PBRis distinct from the central BZ receptor although both can be present in the same tissues in differing ratios. PBRs are predominately localized on the outer mitochondrial membrane and are thus intracellular BZ recognition sites. The PBR is composed of three subunits an 18,000 mol wt subunit that binds isoquinoline carboxamide derivatives a 30,000 mol wt subunit that binds BZs and a 32,000 mol wt voltage-dependent anion channel subunit. The porphyrins may be endogenous ligands for the PBR. PBRs are involved in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation and steroidogenesis. 

The space inside the inner mitochondrial membrane is called the matrix, and it contains most of the enzymes of the TCA cycle and fatty acid oxidation. (An important exception, succinate dehydrogenase of the TCA cycle, is located in the inner membrane itself.) In addition, mitochondria contain circular DNA molecules, along with ribosomes and the enzymes required to synthesize proteins coded within the mitochondrial genome. Although some of the mitochondrial proteins are made this way, most are encoded by nuclear DNA and synthesized by cytosolic ribosomes. 

Although the precise mechanism of the NADH-UQ reductase is not known, the first step involves binding of NADH to the enzyme on the matrix side of the inner mitochondrial membrane, and transfer of electrons from NADH to tightly bound FMN ... 

The final step of the reaction involves the transfer of two electrons from iron-sulfur clusters to coenzyme Q. Coenzyme Q is a mobile electron carrier. Its isoprenoid tail makes it highly hydrophobic, and it diffuses freely in the hydrophobic core of the inner mitochondrial membrane. As a result, it shuttles electrons from Complexes I and II to Complex III. The redox cycle of UQ is shown in Figure 21.5, and the overall scheme is shown schematically in Figure 21.6. 

Complex II is perhaps better known by its other name—succinate dehydrogenase, the only TCA cycle enzyme that is an integral membrane protein in the inner mitochondrial membrane. This enzyme has a mass of approximately 100 to 140 kD and is composed of four subunits two Fe-S proteins of masses 70 kD and 27 kD, and two other peptides of masses 15 kD and 13 kD. Also known as flavoprotein 2 (FP2), it contains an FAD covalently bound to a histidine residue (see Figure 20.15), and three Fe-S centers a 4Fe-4S cluster, a 3Fe-4S cluster, and a 2Fe-2S cluster. When succinate is converted to fumarate in the TCA cycle, concomitant reduction of bound FAD to FADHg occurs in succinate dehydrogenase. This FADHg transfers its electrons immediately to Fe-S centers, which pass them on to UQ. Electron flow from succinate to UQ,... 

As with Complex 1, passage of electrons through the Q cycle of Complex 111 is accompanied by proton transport across the inner mitochondrial membrane. The postulated pathway for electrons in this system is shown in Figure 21.12. A large pool of UQ and UQHg exists in the inner mitochondrial membrane. The Q cycle is initiated when a molecule of UQHg from this pool diffuses to a site (called Q, ) on Complex 111 near the cytosolic face of the membrane. 

Cytochrome c, like UQ is a mobile electron carrier. It associates loosely with the inner mitochondrial membrane (in the intermembrane space on the cytosolic side of the inner membrane) to acquire electrons from the Fe-S-cyt C aggregate of Complex 111, and then it migrates along the membrane surface in the reduced state, carrying electrons to cytochrome c oxidase, the fourth complex of the electron transport chain. 

Thus, Og and cytochrome c oxidase are the final destination for the electrons derived from the oxidation of food materials. In concert with this process, cytochrome c oxidase also drives transport of protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane. These important functions are carried out by a transmembrane protein complex consisting of more than 10 subunits (Table 21.2). 

Complex IV Also Transports Protons Across the Inner Mitochondrial Membrane... 

The reduction of oxygen in Complex IV is accompanied by transport of protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane. Transfer of four electrons through this complex drives the transport of approximately four protons. The mechanism of proton transport is unknown but is thought to involve the steps from state P to state O (Figure 21.20). Four protons are taken up on the matrix side for every two protons transported to the cytoplasm (see Figure 21.17). 

It should be emphasized here that the four major complexes of the electron transport chain operate quite independently in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Each is a multiprotein aggregate maintained by numerous strong associations between peptides of the complex, but there is no evidence that the complexes associate with one another in the membrane. Measurements of the lateral diffusion rates of the four complexes, of coenzyme Q, and of cytochrome c in the inner mitochondrial membrane show that the rates differ considerably, indicating that these complexes do not move together in the membrane. Kinetic studies with reconstituted systems show that electron transport does not operate by means of connected sets of the four complexes. 

In 1961, Peter Mitchell, a British biochemist, proposed that the energy stored in a proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane by electron transport drives the synthesis of ATP in cells. The proposal became known as... 

The free energy difference for protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane includes a term for the concentration difference and a term for the electrical potential. This is expressed as... 

In 1961, Peter Mitchell proposed a novel coupling mechanism involving a proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane. In Mitchell s chemiosmotic hypothesis, protons are driven across the membrane from the matrix to the intermembrane... 

FIGURE 21.22 The proton and electrochemical gradients existing across the inner mitochondrial membrane. The electrochemical gradient is generated by the transport of protons across the membrane. 

FIGURE 21.31 Structures of several uiicouplers, molecules that dissipate the proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane and thereby destroy the tight coupling between electron transport and the ATP synthase reaction. 

Most of the NADH used in electron transport is produced in the mitochondrial matrix space, an appropriate site because NADH is oxidized by Complex I on the matrix side of the inner membrane. Furthermore, the inner mitochondrial membrane is impermeable to NADH. Recall, however, that NADH is produced in glycolysis by glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase in the cytosol. If this NADH were not oxidized to regenerate NAD, the glycolytic pathway would cease to function due to NAD limitation. Eukaryotic cells have a number of shuttle systems that harvest the electrons of cytosolic NADH for delivery to mitochondria without actually transporting NADH across the inner membrane (Figures 21.33 and 21.34). 

In the glycerophosphate shuttle, two different glycerophosphate dehydrogenases, one in the cytoplasm and one on the outer face of the mitochondrial inner membrane, work together to carry electrons into the mitochondrial matrix (Figure 21.32). NADH produced in the cytosol transfers its electrons to dihydroxyaeetone phosphate, thus reducing it to glyeerol-3-phosphate. This metabolite is reoxidized by the FAD -dependent mitochondrial membrane enzyme to... 

FIGURE 21.34 The malate (oxaloacetate)-aspartate shuttle, which operates across the inner mitochondrial membrane. 

The thylakoid membrane is asymmetrically organized, or sided, like the mitochondrial membrane. It also shares the property of being a barrier to the passive diffusion of H ions. Photosynthetic electron transport thus establishes an electrochemical gradient, or proton-motive force, across the thylakoid membrane with the interior, or lumen, side accumulating H ions relative to the stroma of the chloroplast. Like oxidative phosphorylation, the mechanism of photophosphorylation is chemiosmotic. 

All of the other enzymes of the /3-oxidation pathway are located in the mitochondrial matrix. Short-chain fatty acids, as already mentioned, are transported into the matrix as free acids and form the acyl-CoA derivatives there. However, long-chain fatty acyl-CoA derivatives cannot be transported into the matrix directly. These long-chain derivatives must first be converted to acylearnitine derivatives, as shown in Figure 24.9. Carnitine acyltransferase I, located on the outer side of the inner mitochondrial membrane, catalyzes the formation of... 

FIGURE 24.9 The formation of acylcar-nitines and their transport across the inner mitochondrial membrane. The process involves the coordinated actions of carnitine acyltrans-ferases on both sides of the membrane and of a translocase that shuttles O-acylcarnitines across the membrane. 

The acetyl-CoA derived from amino acid degradation is normally insufficient for fatty acid biosynthesis, and the acetyl-CoA produced by pyruvate dehydrogenase and by fatty acid oxidation cannot cross the mitochondrial membrane to participate directly in fatty acid synthesis. Instead, acetyl-CoA is linked with oxaloacetate to form citrate, which is transported from the mitochondrial matrix to the cytosol (Figure 25.1). Here it can be converted back into acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate by ATP-citrate lyase. In this manner, mitochondrial acetyl-CoA becomes the substrate for cytosolic fatty acid synthesis. (Oxaloacetate returns to the mitochondria in the form of either pyruvate or malate, which is then reconverted to acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate, respectively.)... 

Cytochrome c oxidase contains two, or possibly three, copper atoms referred to as Cua and Cub since they do not fit into the usual classification. The former (possibly a dimer) is situated outside the mitochondrial membrane, whereas the latter is associated with an iron atom within the membrane. Both have electron transfer functions but details are as yet unclear. 

Following the action of extraordinary stimulants (hypoxic hypoxia, hypoxia + hyperoxia, hypodynamia + hyperthermia), animals demonstrate an accumulation of malonic dialdehyde with a simultaneous fall of antiradical activity of the liver tissue. A preliminary introduction to rats of acetylene amine 3,4,5-tris(morpho-linopropynyl)-l-methylpyrazole 103 and also of tocopherol antioxidant and gutumine antihypoxant averts activation of the lipid peroxidation processes. The inhibition of peroxidation with this agent is mediated by stabilization of ly-zosomal and mitochondrial membranes. Unsaturated amines prevent destruction of the organelle membranes provoked by UV irradiation and incubation at 37°C (pH4.7)(78MIl). 

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. 

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