Arrest of cytochrome-c oxidase synthesis coordinated with catabolic arrest in dormant Artemia embryos

The cytochrome c oxidase and its mitochondrial function in the whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei during hypoxia

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX), which is located in the inner membrane of mitochondria, is a key constituent of the electron transport chain that catalyzes the reduction of oxygen. The Pacific whiteleg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei is constantly exposed to hypoxic conditions, which affects both the central metabolism and the mitochondrial function. The purpose of this study was to isolate shrimp mitochondria, identify the COX complex and to evaluate the effect of hypoxia on the shrimp mitochondrial function and in the COX activity. A 190 kDa protein was identified as COX by immunodetection techniques. The effect of hypoxia was confirmed by an increase in the shrimp plasma L-lactate concentration. COX activity, mitochondrial oxygen uptake and protein content were reduced under hypoxic conditions, and gradually restored as hypoxia continued, this suggests an adaptive mitochondrial response and a highly effective COX enzyme. Both mitochondrial oxygen uptake and COX activity were completely inhibited by KCN and sodium azide, suggesting that COX is the unique oxidase in L. vannamei mitochondria.

Effect of hypercapnic hypoxia and bacterial infection (Vibrio campbellii) on protein synthesis rates in the Pacific whiteleg shrimp,Litopenaeus vannamei

Estuarine species frequently encounter areas of simultaneously low dissolved O2(hypoxia) and high CO2(hypercapnia). Organisms exposed to hypoxia experience a metabolic depression that serves to decrease ATP utilization and O2demand during stress. This downregulation is typically facilitated by a reduction in protein synthesis, a process that can be responsible for up to 60% of basal metabolism. The added effects of hypercapnia, however, are unclear. Certain decapods also exhibit a metabolic depression in response to bacterial challenges, leading us to hypothesize that protein synthesis may also be reduced during infection. In the present study, we examined the effects of hypoxia (H), hypercapnic hypoxia (HH), and bacterial infection ( Vibrio campbellii) on tissue-specific (muscle and hepatopancreas) fractional protein synthesis rates ( ks) in Litopenaeus vannamei. We observed a significant decrease in ksin muscle after 24 h exposure to both H and HH, and in hepatopancreas after 24 h exposure to HH. Thus ksis responsive to changes in O2, and the combined effect of hypercapnic hypoxia on ksis more severe than hypoxia alone. These reductions in ksappear to be driven by changes in RNA translational efficiency ( kRNA), and not RNA capacity ( Cs). Bacterial infection, however, had no significant effect on ksin either tissue. These results suggest that crustaceans reduce metabolic demand during environmental hypoxia by reducing global protein synthesis, and that this effect is magnified when hypercapnia is concomitantly present. Conversely, an immune-mediated metabolic depression is not associated with a decrease in overall protein production.

Mitochondria in energy-limited states: mechanisms that blunt the signaling of cell death

Cellular conditions experienced during energy-limited states--elevated calcium, shifts in cellular adenylate status, compromised mitochondrial membrane potential--are precisely those that trigger, at least in mammals, the mitochondrion to initiate opening of the permeability transition pore, to assemble additional protein release channels, and to release pro-apoptotic factors. These pro-apototic factors in turn activate initiator and executer caspases. How is activation of mitochondria-based pathways for the signaling of apoptotic and necrotic cell death avoided under conditions of hypoxia, anoxia, diapause, estivation and anhydrobiosis? Functional trade-offs in environmental tolerance may have occurred in parallel with the evolution of diversified pathways for the signaling of cell death in eukaryotic organisms. Embryos of the brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana, survive extended periods of anoxia and diapause, and evidence indicates that opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore and release of cytochrome c (cyt-c) do not occur. Further, caspase activation in this crustacean is not dependent on cyt-c. Its caspases display regulation by nucleotides that is consistent with ;applying the brakes' to cell death during energy limitation. Unraveling the mechanisms by which organisms in extreme environments avoid cell death may suggest possible interventions during disease states and biostabilization of mammalian cells.

Conditions leading to high CO2 (>5 kPa) in waterlogged-flooded soils and possible effects on root growth and metabolism

AIMS

Soil waterlogging impedes gas exchange with the atmosphere, resulting in low P(O2) and often high P(CO2). Conditions conducive to development of high P(CO2) (5-70 kPa) during soil waterlogging and flooding are discussed. The scant information on responses of roots to high P(CO2) in terms of growth and metabolism is reviewed.

SCOPE

P(CO2) at 15-70 kPa has been reported for flooded paddy-field soils; however, even 15 kPa P(CO2) may not always be reached, e.g. when soil pH is above 7. Increases of P(CO2) in soils following waterlogging will develop much more slowly than decreases in P(O2); in soil from rice paddies in pots without plants, maxima in P(CO2) were reached after 2-3 weeks. There are no reliable data on P(CO2) in roots when in waterlogged or flooded soils. In rhizomes and internodes, P(CO2) sometimes reached 10 kPa, inferring even higher partial pressures in the roots, as a CO2 diffusion gradient will exist from the roots to the rhizomes and shoots. Preliminary modelling predicts that when P(CO2) is higher in a soil than in roots, P(CO2) in the roots would remain well below the P(CO2) in the soil, particularly when there is ventilation via a well-developed gas-space continuum from the roots to the atmosphere. The few available results on the effects of P(CO2) at > 5 kPa on growth have nearly all involved sudden increases to 10-100 kPa P(CO2); consequently, the results cannot be extrapolated with certainty to the much more gradual increases of P(CO2) in waterlogged soils. Nevertheless, rice in an anaerobic nutrient solution was tolerant to 50 kPa CO2 being suddenly imposed. By contrast, P(CO2) at 25 kPa retarded germination of some maize genotypes by 50%. With regard to metabolism, assuming that the usual pH of the cytoplasm of 7.5 was maintained, every increase of 10 kPa CO2 would result in an increase of 75-90 mM HCO3(-) in the cytoplasm. pH maintenance would depend on the biochemical and biophysical pH stats (i.e. regulatory systems). Furthermore, there are indications that metabolism is adversely affected when HCO3(-) in the cytoplasm rises above 50 mM, or even lower; succinic dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase are inhibited by HCO3(-) as low as 10 mM. Such effects could be mitigated by a decrease in the set point for the pH of the cytoplasm, thus lowering levels of HCO3(-) at the prevailing P(CO2) in the roots.

CONCLUSIONS

Measurements are needed on P(CO2) in a range of soil types and in roots of diverse species, during waterlogging and flooding. Species well adapted to high P(CO2) in the root zone, such as rice and other wetland plants, thrive even when P(CO2) is well over 10 kPa; mechanisms of adaptation, or acclimatization, by these species need exploration.

Depression of cell metabolism and proliferation by membrane-permeable and -impermeable modulators: role for AMP-to-ATP ratio

The metabolic and developmental depression commonly observed during natural states of dormancy, such as diapause and quiescence, is typically accompanied by an increase in the intracellular ratio of AMP to ATP. We investigated the impact of artificially increasing the AMP-to-ATP ratio in mouse macrophages. Evidence is presented here that the P2X7 receptor channel can be used as an effective means to load cells with membrane-impermeable compounds. Intracellular loading of adenosine-5'-O-thiomonophosphate (AMPS), a nonhydrolyzable analog of 5'-AMP and potent activator of AMP-activated protein kinase, significantly depresses metabolism and proliferation of macrophages. The intracellular effective AMP-to-ATP ratio obtained (the sum of AMPS plus endogenous 5'-AMP) was 0.073, well above that reported to activate AMP-activated protein kinase in vitro. Optimizing both the conditions under which the P2X7 receptor channel is opened and the duration of opening facilitates high analog uptake and approximately 98% survivorship. An advantage to AMPS is its minimal impact on other components of the nucleotide pool, most notably the unchanged concentration of ADP. An alternative way to shift the effective AMP-to-ATP ratio is by incubation with the membrane-permeable compound 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-beta-D-ribofuranoside (AICAR), which is phosphorylated intracellularly to form the 5'-AMP analog ZMP. Despite a rapid intracellular accumulation of AICAR, conversion to ZMP was slow and inefficient. Furthermore, AICAR incubation increased cellular ADP, and, although cell proliferation was depressed, the overall cellular energy flow was unchanged. The rapid action of AMPS avoids upregulation of compensatory metabolic pathways and may provide a viable approach for promoting cell stasis.

Mitochondrial mRNA stability and polyadenylation during anoxia-induced quiescence in the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana

Polyadenylation of messenger RNA is known to be an important mechanism for regulating mRNA stability in a variety of systems, including bacteria, chloroplasts and plant mitochondria. By comparison, little is known about the role played by polyadenylation in animal mitochondrial gene expression. We have used embryos of the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana to test hypotheses regarding message stability and polyadenylation under conditions simulating anoxia-induced quiescence. In response to anoxia, these embryos undergo a profound and acute metabolic downregulation, characterized by a steep drop in intracellular pH (pH(i)) and ATP levels. Using dot blots of total mitochondrial RNA, we show that during in organello incubations both O(2) deprivation and acidic pH (pH 6.4) elicit increases in half-lives of selected mitochondrial transcripts on the order of five- to tenfold or more, relative to normoxic controls at pH 7.8. Polyadenylation of these transcripts was measured under the same incubation conditions using a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based assay. The results demonstrate that low pH and anoxia promote significant deadenylation of the stabilized transcripts in several cases, measured either as change over time in the amount of polyadenylation within a given size class of poly(A)(+) tail, or as the total amount of polyadenylation at the endpoint of the incubation. This study is the first direct demonstration that for a metazoan mitochondrion, polyadenylation is associated with destabilized mRNA. This pattern has also been demonstrated in bacteria, chloroplasts and plant mitochondria and may indicate a conserved mechanism for regulating message half-life that differs from the paradigm for eukaryotic cytoplasm, where increased mRNA stability is associated with polyadenylation.

Mitochondrial differentiation during the early development of the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana

During the early development of Artemia there is an increase in mitochondrial enzyme activities of about one order of magnitude, whereas the activities of two cytoplasmic enzymes tested as controls remain unaltered. The mitochondrial enzyme activation correlates with (i) large changes in mitochondrial morphology, (ii) a 5-fold increase in the amount of the H+-ATP synthase beta-subunit and (iii) a dramatic increase in the steady-state level of mitochondrial mRNAs, whereas mitochondrial rRNA concentrations remain mostly unchanged. In contrast, the level of mitochondrial DNA does not change significantly during the first 20 h after resumption of development. After hatching, the mitochondrial DNA content increases twice in parallel with one round of cellular division, thus indicating that mitochondrial and nuclear replication are coupled in Artemia postgastrular development. The data presented strongly suggest that mitochondrial maturation in the absence of significant mitochondrial proliferation is responsible for the dramatic increase in mitochondrial function that takes place after resumption of development in Artemia.

Oxygen and pH regulation of protein synthesis in mitochondria from Artemia franciscana embryos

To identify factors responsible for the down-regulation of mitochondrial biosynthetic processes during anoxia in encysted Artemia franciscana embryos, the effects of oxygen limitation and pH on protein synthesis were investigated in isolated mitochondria. At the optimal pH of 7.5, exposure of mitochondria to anoxia decreases the protein synthesis rate by 79%. Rates were suppressed by a further 10% at pH 6.8, the intracellular pH (pHi) measured under anoxia in vivo. Matrix pH, measured under identical conditions, was 8.43 +/- 0.01 at an extra-mitochondrial pH of 7.9 (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 3), 8.05 +/- 0.01 at pH 7.5, and 7.10 +/- 0.01 at pH 6.8. The matrix pH did not vary (P > or = 0.20) as a function of oxygen availability during the 1 h assays. Intramitochondrial purine nucleotides varied little as a function of pH. In contrast, after 1 h of protein synthesis under anoxia, ATP levels decreased by up to 40%, whereas AMP, ADP and GDP concentrations increased, and GTP and GMP concentrations remained relatively constant. The addition of 1 mM ATP at the onset of anoxia maintained the ATP/ADP ratio at the aerobic value, but did not stabilized the GTP/GDP ratio or rescue rates of protein synthesis. Thus, at present, we cannot eliminate the possibility that the decrease in the GTP/GDP ratio during anoxia may contribute to the suppression of protein synthesis. The effect of anoxia was reversible; the rate of protein synthesis upon reoxygenation after a 30 min bout of anoxia was comparable (P = 0.14) with the pre-anoxic rate (193 +/- 17 and 174 +/- 6 pmol of leucine per mg of protein respectively, mean +/- S.E.M., n = 3). The array of mitochondrial translation products did not differ qualitatively as a function of either oxygen availability or pH. Finally, similar pH profiles for protein synthesis were obtained with either [3H]leucine or [3H]histidine (known to use different transporters). Consequently, it is improbable that the pH-sensitivity of protein synthesis can be explained by a specific protein effect on the import of the radiolabelled amino acid used. In summary, both oxygen limitation and acidic pH suppress rates of mitochondrial protein synthesis and are likely to contribute to the arrest of mitochondrial anabolic processes during anoxia-induced quiescence in A. franciscana embryos.

Global arrest of translation during invertebrate quiescence

Comparing the translational capacities of cell-free systems from aerobically developing embryos of the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana vs. quiescent embryos has revealed a global arrest of protein synthesis. Incorporation rates of [3H]leucine by lysates from 4-h anoxic embryos were 8% of those from aerobic (control) embryos, when assayed at the respective pH values measured for each treatment in vivo. Exposure of embryos to 4 h of aerobic acidosis (elevated CO2 in the presence of oxygen) suppressed protein synthesis to 3% of control values. These latter two experimental treatments promote developmental arrest of Artemia embryos and, concomitantly, cause acute declines in intracellular pH. When lysates from each treatment were assayed over a range of physiologically relevant pH values (pH 6.4-8.0), amino acid incorporation rates in lysates from quiescent embryos were consistently lower than values for the aerobic controls. Acute reversal of pH to alkaline values during the 6-min assays was not sufficient to return the incorporation rates of quiescent lysates to control values. Thus, a stable alteration in translational capacity of quiescent lysates is indicated. Addition of exogenous mRNA did not rescue the suppressed protein synthesis in quiescent lysates, which suggests that the acute blockage of amino acid incorporation is apparently not due to limitation in message. Thus, the results support a role for intracellular pH as an initial signaling event in translational control during quiescence yet, at the same time, indicate that a direct proton effect on the translational machinery is not the sole proximal agent for biosynthetic arrest in this primitive crustacean.