Q-cycle

In the third complex of the electron transport chain, reduced coenzyme Q (UQHg) passes its electrons to cytochrome c via a unique redox pathway known as the Q cycle. UQ cytochrome c reductase (UQ-cyt c reductase), as this complex is known, involves three different cytochromes and an Fe-S protein. In the cytochromes of these and similar complexes, the iron atom at the center of the porphyrin ring cycles between the reduced Fe (ferrous) and oxidized Fe (ferric) states. 

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. 

FIGURE 21.12 The Q cycle in mitochondria. (a) The electron transfer pathway following oxidation of the first UQH9 at the Qy, site near the cytosolic face of the membrane. 

The second half of the cycle (Figure 21.12b) is similar to the first half, with a second molecule of UQHg oxidized at the Q site, one electron being passed to cytochrome C and the other transferred to heme bj and then to heme bfj. In this latter half of the Q cycle, however, the bn electron is transferred to the semiquinone anion, UQ , at the Q site. With the addition of two from... 

Why has nature chosen this rather convoluted path for electrons in Complex 111 First of all. Complex 111 takes up two protons on the matrix side of the inner membrane and releases four protons on the cytoplasmic side for each pair of electrons that passes through the Q cycle. The apparent imbalance of two protons in ior four protons out is offset by proton translocations in Complex rV, the cytochrome oxidase complex. The other significant feature of this mechanism is that it offers a convenient way for a two-electron carrier, UQHg, to interact with the bj and bfj hemes, the Rieske protein Fe-S cluster, and cytochrome C, all of which are one-electron carriers. 

Slater, E. C., 1983. The Q cycle An ubiquitous mechanism of electron tran.sfer. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 8 239—242. 

Trumpower, B. L., 1990. The protonmotive Q cycle—energy tran.sduction by coupling of proton tran.slocation to electron tran.sfer by the cytochrome bei corap[ x. Journal of Biological Chemistry 265 11409-11412. 

Figure 7. Mechanism of the proton-translocating ubiquinol cytochrome c reductase (complex III) Q cycle. There is a potential difference of up to 150 mV across the hydrophobic core of this complex (potential barrier represented by the vertical broken line). Cytochromes hour and b N are heme groups on the same peptide subunits of complex III which can transfer electrons across the hydrophobic core. The movement of two electrons provides the driving force to transfer two protons from the matrix to the cytosol. Diffusion of UQ and UQHj, which are uncharged, in the hydrophobic core, and lipid bilayer of the inner membrane is not influenced by the membrane potential (see Nicholls and Ferguson, 1992).

The famous model for the oxidation of NADH coupled with the proton transport in a mitochondria is the Q cycle [53], as follows NADH in the aqueous solution (matrix) is oxidized to NAD by Q in the membrane producing hydroquinone (QH2). 

Block composition, (2), and IF-THEN composition, (3), do not affect cycle domination so we need consider part (B) of the definition of line-like only for WHILE composition, (4). But the query node q cycle dominates all of B and these are the only cycle dominations added in so if (B) is line-like then is line-like. ... 

Such a process is supposed to occur within the limits of Q-cycle mechanism (Figure 23.2). In accord with this scheme ubihydroquinone reduced dioxygen in Complex III, while superoxide producers in Complex I could be FMN or the FeS center [12]. Zhang et al. [24] also suggested that the Q-cycle mechanism is responsible for the superoxide production by the succinate-cytochrome c reductase in bovine heart mitochondria and that FAD of succinate dehydrogenase is another producer of superoxide. Young et al. [25] concluded that, in addition to Complex III, flavin-containing enzymes and FeS centers are also the sites of superoxide production in liver mitochondria. 

Figure 13.12 The protonmotive Q cycle. Electron transfer reactions are numbered and circled. Dashed arrows designate movement of ubiquinol or ubiquinone between centres N and P and of the ISP between cytochrome b and cytochrome c,. Solid black bars indicate sites of inhibition by antimycin, UHDTB and stigmatellin. (From Hunte et al., 2003. Copyright 2003, with permission from Elsevier.)...

The proton-motive Q-cycle model, put forward by Mitchell (references 80 and 81) and by Trumpower and co-workers, is invoked in the following manner (1) One electron is transferred from ubiquinol (ubiquinol oxidized to ubisemi-quinone see Figure 7.27) to the Rieske [2Fe-2S] center at the Qo site, the site nearest the intermembrane space or p side (2) this electron can leave the bci complex via an attached cytochrome c or be transferred to cytochrome Ci (3) the reactive ubisemiquinone reduces the low-potential heme bL located closer to the membrane s intermembrane (p) side (4) reduced heme bL quickly transfers an electron to high-potential heme bn near the membrane s matrix side and (5) ubiquinone or ubisemiquinone oxidizes the reduced bn at the Qi site nearest the matrix or n side. Proton translocation results from the deprotonation of ubiquinol at the Qo site and protonation of ubisemiquinone at the Qi site. Ubiquinol generated at the Qi site is reoxidized at the Qo site (see Figure 7.27). Additional protons are transported across the membrane from the matrix (see Figure 7.26 illustrating a similar process for cytochrome b(6)f). The overall reaction can be written... 

A third, clearer explanation of the electron transfer, proton translocation cycle is given by Saratse. Each ubiquinol (QH2) molecule can donate two electrons. A hrst QH2 electron is transferred along a high-potential chain to the [2Fe-2S] center of the ISP and then to cytochrome Ci. From the cytochrome Cl site, the electron is delivered to the attached, soluble cytochrome c in the intermembrane space. A second QH2 electron is transferred to the Qi site via the cytochrome b hemes, bL and bn. This is an electrogenic step driven by the potential difference between the two b hemes. This step creates part of the proton-motive force. After two QH2 molecules are oxidized at the Qo site, two electrons have been transferred to the Qi site (where one ubiquinone (Qio) can now be reduced, requiring two protons to be translocated from the matrix space). The net effect is a translocation of two protons for each electron transferred to cytochrome c. Each explanation of the cytochrome bci Q cycle has its merits and its proponents. The reader should consult the literature for updates in this ongoing research area. 

Proton gradients can be built up in various ways. A very unusual type is represented by bacteriorhodopsin (1), a light-driven proton pump that various bacteria use to produce energy. As with rhodopsin in the eye, the light-sensitive component used here is covalently bound retinal (see p. 358). In photosynthesis (see p. 130), reduced plastoquinone (QH2) transports protons, as well as electrons, through the membrane (Q cycle, 2). The formation of the proton gradient by the respiratory chain is also coupled to redox processes (see p. 140). In complex III, a Q,cycle is responsible for proton translocation (not shown). In cytochrome c oxidase (complex IV, 3), trans-... 

Because photosystem 11 and the cytochrome b/f complex release protons from reduced plastoquinone into the lumen (via a Q. cycle), photosynthetic electron transport establishes an electrochemical gradient across the thylakoid membrane (see p. 126), which is used for ATP synthesis by an ATP synthase. ATP and NADPH+H", which are both needed for the dark reactions, are formed in the stroma. 

FIGURE 23.2 Redox cycling of ubiquinone in mitochondria. (Q-cycling mechanism). (Adapted from Y Li, H Zhu, MA Trush. Biochim Biophys Acta 1428 1-12, 1999.)... 

---