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Sarewicz M, Pintscher S, Pietras R, Borek A, Bujnowicz Ł, Hanke G, Cramer WA, Finazzi G, Osyczka A. Catalytic Reactions and Energy Conservation in the Cytochrome bc1 and b6f Complexes of Energy-Transducing Membranes. Chem Rev 2021; 121:2020-2108. [PMID: 33464892 PMCID: PMC7908018 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
This review focuses on key components of respiratory and photosynthetic energy-transduction systems: the cytochrome bc1 and b6f (Cytbc1/b6f) membranous multisubunit homodimeric complexes. These remarkable molecular machines catalyze electron transfer from membranous quinones to water-soluble electron carriers (such as cytochromes c or plastocyanin), coupling electron flow to proton translocation across the energy-transducing membrane and contributing to the generation of a transmembrane electrochemical potential gradient, which powers cellular metabolism in the majority of living organisms. Cytsbc1/b6f share many similarities but also have significant differences. While decades of research have provided extensive knowledge on these enzymes, several important aspects of their molecular mechanisms remain to be elucidated. We summarize a broad range of structural, mechanistic, and physiological aspects required for function of Cytbc1/b6f, combining textbook fundamentals with new intriguing concepts that have emerged from more recent studies. The discussion covers but is not limited to (i) mechanisms of energy-conserving bifurcation of electron pathway and energy-wasting superoxide generation at the quinol oxidation site, (ii) the mechanism by which semiquinone is stabilized at the quinone reduction site, (iii) interactions with substrates and specific inhibitors, (iv) intermonomer electron transfer and the role of a dimeric complex, and (v) higher levels of organization and regulation that involve Cytsbc1/b6f. In addressing these topics, we point out existing uncertainties and controversies, which, as suggested, will drive further research in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcin Sarewicz
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Sebastian Pintscher
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Rafał Pietras
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Arkadiusz Borek
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Łukasz Bujnowicz
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Guy Hanke
- School
of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen
Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, U.K.
| | - William A. Cramer
- Department
of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 United States
| | - Giovanni Finazzi
- Laboratoire
de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Université Grenoble Alpes, Centre National Recherche Scientifique,
Commissariat Energie Atomique et Energies Alternatives, Institut National
Recherche l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
| | - Artur Osyczka
- Department
of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
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Sarewicz M, Osyczka A. Electronic connection between the quinone and cytochrome C redox pools and its role in regulation of mitochondrial electron transport and redox signaling. Physiol Rev 2015; 95:219-43. [PMID: 25540143 PMCID: PMC4281590 DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00006.2014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Mitochondrial respiration, an important bioenergetic process, relies on operation of four membranous enzymatic complexes linked functionally by mobile, freely diffusible elements: quinone molecules in the membrane and water-soluble cytochromes c in the intermembrane space. One of the mitochondrial complexes, complex III (cytochrome bc1 or ubiquinol:cytochrome c oxidoreductase), provides an electronic connection between these two diffusible redox pools linking in a fully reversible manner two-electron quinone oxidation/reduction with one-electron cytochrome c reduction/oxidation. Several features of this homodimeric enzyme implicate that in addition to its well-defined function of contributing to generation of proton-motive force, cytochrome bc1 may be a physiologically important point of regulation of electron flow acting as a sensor of the redox state of mitochondria that actively responds to changes in bioenergetic conditions. These features include the following: the opposing redox reactions at quinone catalytic sites located on the opposite sides of the membrane, the inter-monomer electronic connection that functionally links four quinone binding sites of a dimer into an H-shaped electron transfer system, as well as the potential to generate superoxide and release it to the intermembrane space where it can be engaged in redox signaling pathways. Here we highlight recent advances in understanding how cytochrome bc1 may accomplish this regulatory physiological function, what is known and remains unknown about catalytic and side reactions within the quinone binding sites and electron transfers through the cofactor chains connecting those sites with the substrate redox pools. We also discuss the developed molecular mechanisms in the context of physiology of mitochondria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcin Sarewicz
- Department of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - Artur Osyczka
- Department of Molecular Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
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Kyndt JA, Fitch JC, Berry RE, Stewart MC, Whitley K, Meyer TE, Walker FA, Cusanovich MA. Tyrosine triad at the interface between the Rieske iron-sulfur protein, cytochrome c1 and cytochrome c2 in the bc1 complex of Rhodobacter capsulatus. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS 2012; 1817:811-8. [PMID: 22306765 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2012.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2011] [Revised: 01/20/2012] [Accepted: 01/20/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
A triad of tyrosine residues (Y152-154) in the cytochrome c(1) subunit (C1) of the Rhodobacter capsulatus cytochrome bc(1) complex (BC1) is ideally positioned to interact with cytochrome c(2) (C2). Mutational analysis of these three tyrosines showed that, of the three, Y154 is the most important, since its mutation to alanine resulted in significantly reduced levels, destabilization, and inactivation of BC1. A second-site revertant of this mutant that regained photosynthetic capacity was found to have acquired two further mutations-A181T and A200V. The Y152Q mutation did not change the spectral or electrochemical properties of C1, and showed wild-type enzymatic C2 reduction rates, indicating that this mutation did not introduce major structural changes in C1 nor affect overall activity. Mutations Y153Q and Y153A, on the other hand, clearly affect the redox properties of C1 (e.g. by lowering the midpoint potential as much as 117 mV in Y153Q) and the activity by 90% and 50%, respectively. A more conservative Y153F mutant on the other hand, behaves similarly to wild-type. This underscores the importance of an aromatic residue at position Y153, presumably to maintain close packing with P184, which modeling indicates is likely to stabilize the sixth heme ligand conformation.
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Affiliation(s)
- John A Kyndt
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
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Cieluch E, Pietryga K, Sarewicz M, Osyczka A. Visualizing changes in electron distribution in coupled chains of cytochrome bc(1) by modifying barrier for electron transfer between the FeS cluster and heme c(1). BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOENERGETICS 2009; 1797:296-303. [PMID: 19917265 PMCID: PMC2807467 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2009.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2009] [Revised: 11/09/2009] [Accepted: 11/10/2009] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Cytochrome c1 of Rhodobacter (Rba.) species provides a series of mutants which change barriers for electron transfer through the cofactor chains of cytochrome bc1 by modifying heme c1 redox midpoint potential. Analysis of post-flash electron distribution in such systems can provide useful information about the contribution of individual reactions to the overall electron flow. In Rba. capsulatus, the non-functional low-potential forms of cytochrome c1 which are devoid of the disulfide bond naturally present in this protein revert spontaneously by introducing a second-site suppression (mutation A181T) that brings the potential of heme c1 back to the functionally high levels, yet maintains it some 100 mV lower from the native value. Here we report that the disulfide and the mutation A181T can coexist in one protein but the mutation exerts a dominant effect on the redox properties of heme c1 and the potential remains at the same lower value as in the disulfide-free form. This establishes effective means to modify a barrier for electron transfer between the FeS cluster and heme c1 without breaking disulfide. A comparison of the flash-induced electron transfers in native and mutated cytochrome bc1 revealed significant differences in the post-flash equilibrium distribution of electrons only when the connection of the chains with the quinone pool was interrupted at the level of either of the catalytic sites by the use of specific inhibitors, antimycin or myxothiazol. In the non-inhibited system no such differences were observed. We explain the results using a kinetic model in which a shift in the equilibrium of one reaction influences the equilibrium of all remaining reactions in the cofactor chains. It follows a rather simple description in which the direction of electron flow through the coupled chains of cytochrome bc1 exclusively depends on the rates of all reversible partial reactions, including the Q/QH2 exchange rate to/from the catalytic sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ewelina Cieluch
- Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7, 30-307 Kraków, Poland
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