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We report the isolation of mitochondria from the endosperm of castor beans (Ricinus communis). These mitochondria oxidized succinate, external NADH, malate and pyruvate with respiratory-control and ADP/O ratios consistent with those found previously with mitochondria from other plant sources. The mitochondria exhibited considerable sensitivity to the electron-transport-chain inhibitors antimycin A and cyanide when oxidizing succinate and external NADH. Pyruvate-dependent O2 uptake was relatively insensitive to these inhibitors, although the residual O2 uptake could be inhibited by salicylhydroxamic acid. We conclude that a cyanide-insensitive alternative terminal oxidase is functional in these mitochondria. However, electrons from the succinate dehydrogenase or external NADH dehydrogenase seem to have no access to this pathway. There is little interconnection between the salicylhydroxamic acid-sensitive and cyanide-sensitive pathways of electron transport. alpha-Cyanocinnamate and its analogues, compound UK5099 [alpha-cyano-beta-(1-phenylindol-3-yl)acrylate] and alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate, were all found to be potent non-competitive inhibitors of pyruvate oxidation in castor-bean mitochondria. The accumulation of pyruvate by castor-bean mitochondria was determined by using a silicone-oil-centrifugation technique. The accumulation was shown to observe Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with a Km for pyruvate of 0.10 mM and a Vmax. of 0.95 nmol/min per mg of mitochondrial protein. However, the observed rates of pyruvate accumulation were insufficient to account for the pyruvate oxidation rates found in the oxygen-electrode studies. We were able to demonstrate that this is due to the immediate export of the accumulated radiolabel in the form of malate and citrate. Compound UK5099 inhibited the accumulation of [2-14C]pyruvate by castor-bean mitochondria at concentrations similar to those required to inhibit pyruvate oxidation.

1. The ATP-hydrolytic activity of ox heart submitochondrial particles can be increased from 2-3 mumol/min per mg of protein to 10-12 mumol/min per mg of protein by incubation in media containing 50 mM-Na2B4O7. This process appears to be due to the partial release of inhibitor protein from the particles. 2. The ATPase activity of submitochondrial particles can be inhibited by incubation with the substrate, MgATP. This inhibition is not due to the accumulation of the hydrolysis products, MgADP and Pi, but could involve the process of ATP hydrolysis. 3. The mechanism of MgATP-induced inhibition of ATPase activity is proposed to involve a conformational change in one of the intermediate enzyme species of the ATP-hydrolytic sequence. 4. MgATP inhibits the ATPase activity of control submitochondrial particles at a higher rate and to a greater extent than it does that of inhibitor-protein-depleted submitochondrial particles, suggesting that the conformational change involves the endogenous inhibitor protein.

1. Preincubation of the ox heart chloroform-released mitochondrial ATPase with MgATP results in a time-dependent inhibition of ATPase activity. No re-activation occurs when MgATP remains in the preincubation medium. The enzyme activity returns when all the MgATP in the preincubation system has been hydrolysed. 2. The mechanism of the MgATP-induced inhibition was examined. Inhibition occurs on incubation with MgATP or other hydrolysable nucleotides. Incubation with MgADP or Pi does not cause any inhibition. Neither freshly bound adenine nucleotide nor Pi is associated with inhibited enzyme. The rate of MgATP-induced inhibition correlates with the rate of ATP hydrolysis in the preincubation medium. Changing the rate of ATP hydrolysis at a fixed concentration of ATP also changes the rate of MgATP-induced inhibition by the same proportion. The inhibition is thus related to the ATP-hydrolysis process itself. 3. We propose that intermediate enzyme species of the ATP-hydrolytic sequence can undergo a conformational change to form inhibited species. The kinetics of the inhibition suggest that a substrate-activation step is involved in ATP hydrolysis and MgATP-induced inhibition. 4. The effects of the nature of the preincubation medium on the process of MgATP-induced inhibition and its reversal were examined.

In an investigation of the link between Pi transport and alkaline phosphatase in mammalian small intestine, the characteristics of Pi uptake by brush-border membrane vesicles prepared from rat intestine were compared with the properties of the tissue alkaline phosphatase. The NaCl-dependent Pi uptake had a Km of 0.1 mM at pH 7.5 and was inhibited totally by 1 mM-arsenate and by 1 mM-vanadate. These compounds are also potent competitive inhibitors of the alkaline phosphatase activity of the vesicles, with Ki values less than 5 microM at pH 7.5. When the effect on Pi uptake of several other potent inhibitors of alkaline phosphatase, including phosphonates and phosphate analogues, was tested, however, it was found that there was little, if any, inhibition of transport under conditions in which the inhibition of phosphatase activity was total. Incubation of the vesicles for 20 min with oxidized adenosine 5′-[beta gamma-imido]triphosphate followed by rapid gel filtration to remove the inhibitor resulted in an irreversible loss of phosphatase activity, but left Pi transport unimpaired. Conversely, a similar prolonged incubation with adenosine 5′-[beta-thio]diphosphate or adenosine 5′-[gamma-thio]triphosphate had no effect on alkaline phosphatase activity but resulted in a permanent partial loss of transport capability. The failure to demonstrate an inhibition of Pi transport resulting from inhibition of alkaline phosphatase and the different responses of enzymic activity and Pi transport to irreversible inhibition make it very unlikely that the enzyme is directly involved in the transport system.

The inhibition by phosphonates and phosphate analogues of the alkaline phosphatase activity of rat intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles was studied at pH 7.5 and 30 degrees C. Phenylene-1,3-diphosphonate, 2,6-dinitrophenylphosphonate and phosphonoacetaldehyde were found to be competitive inhibitors, with Ki values in the range 16-80 microM. Adenosine 5′-[beta-thio]diphosphate and adenosine 5′[gamma-thio]triphosphate are also very potent inhibitors, with Ki values of approx. 10 microM. The inhibition produced by these thiophosphates was mainly competitive but with a slight non-competitive element. Adenosine 5′-[beta gamma-imido]triphosphate is also a competitive inhibitor of the alkaline phosphatase, but oxidation of the ribose moiety of this compound with NaIO4 results in an active-site-directed irreversible inhibitor that could be of general use in studies of the mechanism of action of this enzyme.

1. Citreoviridin was a potent inhibitor of the soluble mitochondrial ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) similar to the closely related aurovertins B and D. 2. Citreoviridin inhibited the following mitochondrial energy-linked reactions also: ADP-stimulated respiration in whole mitochondria from ox heart and rat liver; ATP-driven reduction of NAD+ by succinate; ATP-driven NAD transhydrogenase and ATPase from ox heart submitochondrial particles. 3. The dissociation constant (KD) calculated by a simple law-of-mass-action treatment for the citreoviridin–ATPase complex was 0.5–4.2micron for ox-heart mitochondrial preparations and 0.15micron for rat liver mitochondria. 4. Monoacetylation of citreoviridin decreased its inhibitory potency (KD=2–25micron, ox heart; KD=0.7micron, rat liver). Diacetylation greatly decreased the inhibitory potency (KD=60–215micron, ox heart). 5. Hydrogenation of citreoviridin monoacetate diminished its inhibitory potency considerably. 6. No significant enhancement of fluorescence was observed when citreoviridin interacted with the mitochondrial ATPase.

An almost pure form of the bovine heart mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) is released from the membrane by shaking submitochondrial particles with chloroform. Analyses on polyacrylamide gels and by electron microscopy, and also sensitivity to inhibitors, show that the chloroform-released enzyme is similar to other ATPase preparations from bovine heart mitochondria.

1. Mitochondria isolated from the thermogenic spadices of Arum maculatum and Sauromatum guttatum plants oxidized external NADH, succinate, citrate, malate, 2-oxoglutarate and pyruvate without the need to add exogenous cofactors. 2. Oxidation of substrates was virtually all via the alternative oxidase, the cytochrome pathway constituting only 10-20% of the total activity, depending on the stage of spadix development. 3. During later stages of spadix development, pyruvate oxidation was enhanced by the addition of aspartate. This was caused by acetyl-CoA condensing with oxaloacetate, produced from pyruvate/aspartate transamination, and so decreasing feedback inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase. 4. Pyruvate oxidation was inhibited by the long-chain acid maleimides AM5-11, but not by those with shorter polymethylene side groups, AM1-4. 5. The alpha-cyanocinnamate derivatives UK5099 [alpha-cyano-beta-(1-phenylindol-3-yl)acrylate] and CHCA [alpha-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate] inhibited pyruvate-dependent O2 consumption and the carrier-mediated uptake of pyruvate across the mitochondrial inner membrane. Characteristics of non-competitive inhibition were observed for CHCA, whereas for UK5099 the results were more complex, suggesting a very low rate of dissociation of the inhibitor-carrier complex. 6. A comparison of the values of Vmax. and Km for oxidation and transport suggested that it was the latter which controls the overall rate of pyruvate oxidation by mitochondria from both tissues.

Protein subunit structure of the soluble ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase)

Chloroform-released ATPase from ox heart mitochondria contains significant amounts of inhibitor protein. There is a correlation between processes that affect the interactions between the inhibitor protein and the ATPase molecule and the ability of MgATP to induce an inhibition of ATPase activity. Evidence is presented suggesting that the endogenous inhibitor protein is involved in the process of MgATP-induced inhibition of soluble ATPase activity.

1. The effects of dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide, oligomycin A and aurovertin on enzyme systems related to respiratory-chain phosphorylation were compared. Dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide and oligomycin A have very similar functional effects, giving 50% inhibition of ATP-utilizing and ATP-generating systems at concentrations below 0·8nmole/mg. of submitochondrial-particle protein. Aurovertin is a more potent inhibitor of ATP synthesis, giving 50% inhibition at 0·2nmole/mg. of protein. However, aurovertin is a less potent inhibitor of ATP-utilizing systems: the ATP-driven energy-linked nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase is 50% inhibited at 3·0nmoles/mg. of protein and the ATP-driven reduction of NAD+ by succinate is 50% inhibited at 0·95nmole/mg. of protein. 2. With EDTA-particles (prepared by subjecting mitochondria to ultrasonic radiation at pH9 in the presence of 2mm-EDTA) the maximum stimulation of the ATP-driven partial reactions is effected by similar concentrations of oligomycin A and dicylcohexylcarbodi-imide, but the latter is less effective. The stimulatory effects of suboptimum concentrations of dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide and oligomycin A are additive. Aurovertin does not stimulate these reactions or interfere with the stimulation by the other inhibitors. 3. Dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide and oligomycin A stimulate the aerobic energy-linked nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase of EDTA-particles, but the optimum concentration is higher than that required for the ATP-driven partial reactions. Aurovertin has no effect on this reaction. 4. The site of action of dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide is in CF0, the mitochondrial fraction that confers oligomycin sensitivity on F1 mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase.

Mitochondrial membranes were incubated with NN′-dicyclohexyl[14C]carbodi-imide, which irreversibly inhibited the partial reactions of oxidative phosphorylation by 95–100%. Solutions of the membranes were analysed on polyacrylamide gels. Of the radioactivity recovered from the gels 90% was shown to be associated with a single protein of molecular weight about 10000. The radioactive protein and associated phospholipid was solubilized from the membrane by extraction with chloroform–methanol mixtures and was concentrated 50-fold by solvent fractionation and adsorption chromatography on Sephadex LH-20. Several protein–radioactivity peaks were obtained by Sephadex LH-20 chromatography. However, 90–100% of the radioactivity in each peak was shown to be associated with a single protein similar to the major radioactive protein observed in electrophoretograms of the membrane solutions. It is concluded that dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide inhibits mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation by reacting covalently with a group on this chloroform–methanol-soluble protein. The possible role of this protein in oxidative phosphorylation is discussed.