Ubiquinone reactions

In theory, molecular oxygen should be completely reduced in complex IV by four electrons to form water without the formation of intermediates. In practice, occasionally, partial reduction occurs with oxygen being converted to superoxide anion radicals (Chapter 15). Also, the ubiquinone reactions in complexes I and II have an... 

Matsushita K, Kobayashi Y, Mizuguchi M, Toyama H, Adachi O, Sakamoto K, Miyoshi H (2008) A tightly bound quintme functions in the ubiquinone reaction sites of quinoprotein alcohol dehydrogenase of an acetic acid bacterium, Gluconobacter suboxydans. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 72(10) 2723-2731... 

The ready reversibility of this reaction is essential to the role that qumones play in cellular respiration the process by which an organism uses molecular oxygen to convert Its food to carbon dioxide water and energy Electrons are not transferred directly from the substrate molecule to oxygen but instead are transferred by way of an electron trans port chain involving a succession of oxidation-reduction reactions A key component of this electron transport chain is the substance known as ubiquinone or coenzyme Q... 

Figure 12.13 Photosynthetic pigments are used hy plants and photosynthetic bacteria to capture photons of light and for electron flow from one side of a membrane to the other side. The diagram shows two such pigments that are present in bacterial reaction centers, bacteriochlorophyll (a) and ubiquinone (b). The light-absorbing parts of the molecules are shown in yellow, attached to hydrocarbon "tails" shown in green.

The moist cells were suspended in 750 parts of volume of ethanol and extracted by warming at 60°C for 1 hour. A total of 3 extractions were carried out in a similar manner and the extracts were pooled, diluted with water and further extracted three times with 1,000 parts of volume portions of n-hexane. The n-hexane layer was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure to recover 4.12 parts of a yellow oil. This oily residue was dissolved in 6 parts by volume of benzene and passed through a column (500 parts by volume capacity) packed with Floridil (100 to 200 meshes). Elution was carried out using benzene and the eluate was collected in 10 parts by volume fractions. Each fraction was analyzed by thin-layer chromatography and color reaction and the fractions rich in ubiquinone-10 were pooled and concentrated under reduced pressure. By this procedure was obtained 0.562 part of a yellow oil. This product was dissolved in 5 parts by volume of chloroform, coated onto a thin layer plate of silica gel GF254 (silica gel with calcium sulfate) and developed with benzene. The fractions corresponding to ubiquinone-10 were extracted, whereby 0.054 part of a yellow oil was obtained. This oil was dissolved in 10 parts by volume of ethanol and allowed to cool, whereupon 0.029 part of yellow crystals of ubiquinone-10 were obtained, its melting point 4B°to 50°C. 

Reaction centers of bacteria contain polypeptides, bacteriochlorophylls, bacteriopheo-phytins, two quinines, and nonheme iron atom. In some bacterial species, both the quinones are ubiquinones, whereas in some others one of the quinones is menaquinone [37,39]. Depending on the bacterial species chloroplasts contain plastoquinone and phyl-loquinone. Structures of ubiquinone, menaquinone, and phylloquinone are provided in Figures 7.12 through 7.14, respectively. 

Now, we may consider in detail the mechanism of oxygen radical production by mitochondria. There are definite thermodynamic conditions, which regulate one-electron transfer from the electron carriers of mitochondrial respiratory chain to dioxygen these components must have the one-electron reduction potentials more negative than that of dioxygen Eq( 02 /02]) = —0.16 V. As the reduction potentials of components of respiratory chain are changed from 0.320 to +0.380 V, it is obvious that various sources of superoxide production may exist in mitochondria. As already noted earlier, the two main sources of superoxide are present in Complexes I and III of the respiratory chain in both of them, the role of ubiquinone seems to be dominant. Although superoxide may be formed by the one-electron oxidation of ubisemiquinone radical anion (Reaction (1)) [10,22] or even neutral semiquinone radical [9], the efficiency of these ways of superoxide formation in mitochondria is doubtful. 

Reaction (1) is a reversible process, and it can be a source of superoxide if only its equilibrium is shifted to the right. The estimation of the equilibrium constant for this reaction in aqueous solution is impossible because the reduction potential of water-insoluble ubiquinone in water is of course undetectable. However, Reaction (1) occurs in the mitochondrial membrane and therefore, the data for the aqueous solutions are irrelevant for the measurement of its equilibrium. Some time back we studied Reaction (1) in aprotic media and found out that Ki is about 0.4 [23]. As the ubiquinone concentration in mitochondria is very high (it is about... 

However, ubihydroquinone, a two-electron reduced form of ubiquinone, can produce superoxide on reaction with molecular oxygen ... 

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]. 

There are two kinds of redox interactions, in which ubiquinones can manifest their antioxidant activity the reactions with quinone and hydroquinone forms. It is assumed that the ubiquinone-ubisemiquinone pair (Figure 29.10) is an electron carrier in mitochondrial respiratory chain. There are numerous studies [235] suggesting that superoxide is formed during the one-electron oxidation of ubisemiquinones (Reaction (25)). As this reaction is a reversible one, its direction depends on one-electron reduction potentials of semiquinone and dioxygen. 

As already mentioned, another mechanism of antioxidant activity of ubiquinones is scavenging of free radicals by ubihydroquinones (Reaction (26)) ... 

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... 

The reaction has been applied for the synthesis of polyprenyl quinol natural product ubiquinone and vitamin K. 

Reaction centers from photosynthetic organisms are specialized pigment-protein complexes in which photon energy is converted into chemical energy ( ) This is accomplished by a series of rapid electron transfer reactions that produce a spacially-separated oxidized donor and a reduced electron acceptor 2). Reaction centers from the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides contain four molecules of bacteriochlorophyll (BChl), two of bac-teriopheophytin (BPh), one tightly-bound or primary ubiquinone (Q), a... 

Special tasks. Some lipids have adopted special roles in the body. Steroids, eicosanoids, and some metabolites of phospholipids have signaling functions. They serve as hormones, mediators, and second messengers (see p.370). Other lipids form anchors to attach proteins to membranes (see p.214). The lipids also produce cofactors for enzymatic reactions—e.g., vitamin K (see p.52) and ubiquinone (see p.l04). The carotenoid retinal, a light-sensitive lipid, is of central importance in the process of vision (see p.358). 

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. 

Formation of squalene. Isopentenyl diphosphate undergoes isomerization to form dimethylallyl diphosphate. The two C5 molecules condense to yield geranyl diphosphate, and the addition of another isopentenyl diphosphate produces farnesyl diphosphate. This can then undergo dimerization, in a head-to-head reaction, to yield squalene. Farnesyl diphosphate is also the starting-point for other polyisoprenoids, such as doli-chol (see p. 230) and ubiquinone (see p. 52). 

NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) [EC 1.6.5.3] (also called ubiquinone reductase, type I dehydrogenase, and complex I dehydrogenase) catalyzes the reaction of NADH with ubiquinone to produce NAD and ubiqui-nol. The complex, which uses EAD and iron-sulfur proteins as cofactors, is found in mitochondrial membranes and can be degraded to form NADH dehydrogenase [EC... 

Succinate dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) [EC 1.3.5.1], a multiprotein complex found in the mitochondria, catalyzes the reaction of succinate with ubiquinone to produce fumarate and ubiqumol. The enzyme requires FAD and iron-sulfur groups. It can be degraded to form succinate dehydrogenase [EC 1.3.99.1], a FAD-dependent system that catalyzes the reaction of succinate with an acceptor to produce fumarate and the reduced acceptor, but no longer reacts with ubiquinone. 

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