Quinone-binding proteins

In both systems, membrane-bound ubiquinone plays crucial roles in the respiratory chain. Indeed, various quinones, including ubiquinone and menaquinone, are used to connect the redox reactions of various membrane proteins. In spite of the large amount of biochemical and biophysical data on quinone and quinone binding proteins, little structural... 

Ubiquinone is a substituted (2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-(l,4)-)benzoquinone with a long isoprenoid side chain in position 6 (see Ref. 238). The fact that ubiquinol is a donor of two reducing equivalents, while cytochrome c is a one-electron acceptor, requires special arrangements of electron transfer (cf., the analogous but opposite problem in cytochrome oxidase). Although ubisemiquinone is very unstable in most circumstances, it can be stabilised by specific binding to a catalytic site. Two such sites have been identified in Complex III [236,239-244]. Quinone-binding proteins have also been described [194-196,245]. 

The mitochondrial inner membrane (Fig. 7) contains proteins that act in concert to catalyze NADH and FADH2 oxidation by molecular oxygen. [See reactions (2) and (3) above.] These reactions are carried out in many small steps by proteins that are integral to the membrane and that undergo oxidation-reduction. These proteins make up what is called the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Components of the chain include iron proteins (cytochromes and iron-sulfur proteins), flavoproteins (proteins that contain flavin), copper, and quinone binding proteins. 

In the ci positional state, fast electron transfer from the Rieske protein to cytochrome Ci will he facilitated hy the close interaction and by the hydrogen bond between His 161 of the Rieske protein and a propionate group of heme Ci, but the Rieske cluster is far away from the quinone binding site. 

Subsequently, proteolytic fragments of the rabbit renal 25-kDa amiloride-binding protein were micro-sequenced and found to have high sequence homology with rat and human NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase. Indeed, enzymatic assays revealed that renal brush border membrane vesicles contain significant NADPH quinone oxidoreductase activity. Presumably NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase coincidentally binds amiloride analogs with the same rank order as the Na /H exchanger [39]. 

Ghaim, J.B., Greiner, D.P., Meares, C.F., and Gennis, R.B. (1995) Proximity mapping the surface of a membrane protein using an artificial protease demonstration that the quinone-binding domain of subunit I is near the N-terminal region of subunit II of cytochrome bd. Biochemistry 34(36), 11311-11315. 

Schnurr et al. [22] showed that rabbit 15-LOX oxidized beef heart submitochondrial particles to form phospholipid-bound hydroperoxy- and keto-polyenoic fatty acids and induced the oxidative modification of membrane proteins. It was also found that the total oxygen uptake significantly exceeded the formation of oxygenated polyenoic acids supposedly due to the formation of hydroxyl radicals by the reaction of ubiquinone with lipid 15-LOX-derived hydroperoxides. However, it is impossible to agree with this proposal because it is known for a long time [23] that quinones cannot catalyze the formation of hydroxyl radicals by the Fenton reaction. Oxidation of intracellular unsaturated acids (for example, linoleic and arachidonic acids) by lipoxygenases can be suppressed by fatty acid binding proteins [24]. 

Figure 6. Scheme to represent known aspects of the plasma membrane NADH oxidase and its association with proton release. The oxidase is activated when hormones or ferric transferrin bind receptors. Oxidase may activate tyrosine kinase which can activate MAP kinases to result in phosphorylation of the exchanger leading to Na+/H+ exchange. Oxidation of quinol in the membrane can also release protons to the outside equal to the number of electrons transferred. External ferricyanide can activate electron flow by accepting electrons at the quinone. G proteins (GTP binding proteins) such as ras-activate electron transport and proton release in some way and may be a link to kinase activation (McCormick, 1993). Semiquinone formation in the membrane could lead to superoxide and peroxide formation by one electron reduction of oxygen. 

Recently, Schloss et al (33) showed that IM and TP were able to quantitatively displace a radiolabelled SU herbicide from ALS, indicating competitive binding. Curiously, the SU ligand was also displaced by the quinone, Qo. It was proposed that SU, TP, and IM bind to ALS in a vestigial quinone binding site associated with the evolution of ALS from pyruvate oxidase. This enzyme is an FAD-protein that catalyzes the oxidation of pyruvate to acetate. 

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF QUINONE BINDING MEMBRANE PROTEINS... 

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