Proton gradients/differences

The electrochemical properties of the quinone-containing complex [Ru(tpy)(Q)(H20)] " (Q = 3,5-di-tert-butyl-l,2-benzoquinone) in the presence of base have been studied in detail and differences in the behavior of aqua and hydroxo complexes analyzed and applied to the conversion of the proton gradient to electricity. ... 

The respiratory chain is one of the pathways involved in oxidative phosphorylation (see p. 122). It catalyzes the steps by which electrons are transported from NADH+H or reduced ubiquinone (QH2) to molecular oxygen. Due to the wide difference between the redox potentials of the donor (NADH+H or QH2) and the acceptor (O2), this reaction is strongly exergonic (see p. 18). Most of the energy released is used to establish a proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane (see p. 126), which is then ultimately used to synthesize ATP with the help of ATP synthase. 

A number of cases are known in which the properties of an enzyme are markedly altered by interaction with a membrane. Of course, in some cases the normal function of an enzyme is destroyed when it is removed from the membrane. For example, the mitochondrial coupling factor cannot synthesize ATP when removed from the membrane, since coupling to a proton gradient is required. The portion of the coupling factor that is easily solubilized (F,) is an ATPase. The steady-state kinetic properties of this solubilized ATPase are appreciably changed when it is reconstituted with mitochondrial membranes The turnover numbers and pH dependencies are different the solubilized enzyme is strongly inhibited by ADP, whereas the reconstituted enzyme is not and the reconstituted enzyme is inhibited by oligomycin, whereas the solubilized enzyme is not. 

A prediction of the chemiosmotic theory is that, because the role of electron transfer in mitochondrial ATP synthesis is simply to pump protons to create the electrochemical potential of the proton-motive force, an artificially created proton gradient should be able to replace electron transfer in driving ATP synthesis. This has been experimentally confirmed (Fig. 19-20). Mitochondria manipulated so as to impose a difference of proton concentration and a separation of charge across the inner membrane synthesize ATP in the absence of an oxidizable substrate the proton-motive force alone suffices to drive ATP synthesis. 

It is the proton gradient that causes the enzyme to release the ATP formed on its surface. The reaction coordinate diagram of the process (Fig. 19-22) illustrates the difference between the mechanism of ATP synthase and that of many other enzymes that catalyze ender-gonic reactions. 

Like Complex III of mitochondria, cytochrome b6f conveys electrons from a reduced quinone—a mobile, lipid-soluble carrier of two electrons (Q in mitochondria, PQb in chloroplasts)—to a water-soluble protein that carries one electron (cytochrome c in mitochondria, plastocyanin in chloroplasts). As in mitochondria, the function of this complex involves a Q cycle (Fig. 19-12) in which electrons pass, one at a time, from PQBH2 to cytochrome bs. This cycle results in the pumping of protons across the membrane in chloroplasts, the direction of proton movement is from the stromal compartment to the thylakoid lumen, up to four protons moving for each pair of electrons. The result is production of a proton gradient across the thylakoid membrane as electrons pass from PSII to PSI. Because the volume of the flattened thylakoid lumen is small, the influx of a small number of protons has a relatively large effect on lumenal pH. The measured difference in pH between the stroma (pH 8) and the thylakoid lumen (pH 5) represents a 1,000-fold difference in proton concentration—a powerful driving force for ATP synthesis. 

A fundamental postulate of the chemiosmotic theory is the presence of an oriented ATP synthase that utilizes the Gibbs energy difference of the proton gradient to drive the synthesis of ATP (Fig. 18-9). 

If so, a pH difference of 2.5 units would be adequate. Various experiments have shown that passage of electrons does induce a pH difference, and that an artifically induced pH difference across mitochondrial membranes leads to ATP synthesis. However, pH gradients of the required size have not been observed. Nevertheless, if the membrane were charged as indicated in Fig. 18-13, without accumulation of protons in the bulk medium, a membrane potential would be developed, and this could drive the ATP synthase, just as would a proton gradient. 

The present volume covers Muscle and Molecular Motors . The first few chapters describe the ultrastructures of striated muscles and of various muscle filaments (myosin, actin, titin), they discuss the regulation of muscle contractile activity, and they explore the mechanism of force production and movement. The book then sets out to survey other kinds of motor systems microtubules and their interactions with both microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) and the motor proteins kinesin and dynein, the major sperm protein in nematodes, the rotary ATPases driven by or driving proton gradients, and the action of motor enzymes, polymerases, on nucleic acids. The aim throughout is to explore different molecular mechanisms of motor action in order to identify common themes. 

Oxidative phosphorylation is the name given to the synthesis of ATP (phosphorylation) that occurs when NADH and FADH2 are oxidized (hence oxidative) by electron transport through the respiratory chain. Unlike substrate level phosphorylation (see Topics J3 and LI), it does not involve phosphorylated chemical intermediates. Rather, a very different mechanism was proposed by Peter Mitchell in 1961, the chemiosmotic hypothesis. This proposes that energy liberated by electron transport is used to create a proton gradient across the mitochondrial inner membrane and that it is this that is used to drive ATP synthesis. Thus the proton gradient couples electron transport and ATP synthesis, not a chemical intermediate. The evidence is overwhelming that this is indeed the way that oxidative phosphorylation works. The actual synthesis of ATP is carried out by an enzyme called ATP synthase located in the inner mitochondrial membrane (Fig. 3). 

Fig. 11.9 Formation of proton gradient by membrane vesicles with different mutant y subunits.

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