The production of high-titre monospecific polyclonal antibodies against the purified pyruvate dehydrogenase and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase multienzyme complexes from ox heart is described. The specificity of these antisera and their precise reactivities with the individual components of the complexes were examined by immunoblotting techniques. All the subunits of the pyruvate dehydrogenase and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes were strongly antigenic, with the exception of the common lipoamide dehydrogenase component (E3). The titre of antibodies raised against E3 was, in both cases, less than 2% of that of the other subunits. Specific immunoprecipitation of the dissociated N-[3H]ethylmaleimide-labelled enzymes also revealed that E3 alone was absent from the final immune complexes. Strong cross-reactivity with the enzyme present in rat liver (BRL) and ox kidney (NBL-1) cell lines was observed when the antibody against ox heart pyruvate dehydrogenase was utilized to challenge crude subcellular extracts. The immunoblotting patterns again lacked the lipoamide dehydrogenase band, also revealing differences in the apparent Mr of the lipoate acetyltransferase subunit (E2) from ox kidney and rat liver. The additional 50 000-Mr polypeptide, previously found to be associated with the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, was apparently not a proteolytic fragment of E2 or E3, since it could be detected as a normal component in boiled sodium dodecyl sulphate extracts of whole cells. The low immunogenicity of the lipoamide dehydrogenase polypeptide may be attributed to a high degree of conservation of its primary sequence and hence tertiary structure during evolution.

High-titre, monospecific, polyclonal antisera have been raised against purified mitochondrial 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (OGDC) from ox heart and two of its three constituent enzymes, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (El) and lipoyl succinyltransferase (E2). These specific antisera have been employed to monitor molecular events in the biosynthesis, import and maturation of this multimeric assembly. Lipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) elicits a poor antibody response in comparison to the other polypeptides of the complex.In cultured pig kidney cells (PK-15), incubated with [35S]methionine in the presence of uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation, appearance of stable higher-M, forms of the individual enzymes can be detected by specific immunoprecipitation and fluorographic analysis. In the case of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, El, the initial cytoplasmic translation product has a subunit M, value of 1500-3000 greater than in the mature enzyme while the precursor of the lipoyl succinyltransferase, E2, contains an additional sequence of MI 6000 -8000. Competition studies have revealed the immunological similarity of the precursor molecules to the native subunits.On removal of uncouplers, processing of accumulated precursors is rapidly initiated and is complete within 40 min. Interestingly, antiserum to native 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex fails to recognise E2 precursor molecules (pre-E2), which can be immunoprecipitated, however, by antibodies raised against the denatured E2 subunit. It is concluded that pre-E2 is conformationally dissimilar to native E2, which exists normally as a highly ordered, multimolecular aggregate in the native complex.The reaction catalysed by the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex (OGDC) is, under most physiological conditions, the primary site of control for the segment of the tricarboxylic acid cycle from 2-oxoglutarate to malate [I]. Catabolism of 2-oxoglutarate by this complex occurs via a co-ordinated sequence of reactions involving decarboxylation, acyl-group generation, acyl transfer and electron transfer. Overall, the lipoic-acid-mediated oxidative decarboxylation of the substrate can be represented as follows:In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex has been isolated in soluble form with M, values (2.4-2.7) x lo6 [2]. This assembly contains multiple copies of three catalytic components : 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, El, a thiamine-diphosphate-requiring enzyme; lipoyl succinyltransferase, E2, containing covalently bound lipoic acid, and lipoamide dehydrogenase, E3, an FAD-linked

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Skin fibroblasts from a patient with mild osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) type IV synthesize two populations of type I procollagen molecules. One population contains pro alpha 1(I) and pro alpha 2(I) chains that migrate normally in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and a second population contains only slower migrating pro alpha 1(I) and pro alpha 2(I) chains. The total amount of type I procollagen made by OI cells and the ratio of pro alpha 1(I):pro alpha 2(I) is normal. When labeled under conditions that inhibit post-translational modification of pro alpha chains, the OI cells produce only single populations of pro alpha 1(I) and pro alpha 2(I) chains indicating that the apparent increased molecular weight of some OI pro alpha chains is due to excessive post-translational modification rather than peptidyl insertions. Peptide maps indicate that excessive post-translational modification occurs along the entire triple helical segment of some alpha 1(I) and alpha 2(I) chains produced by OI cells. The effect of the mutation is to lower the melting temperature of the molecules containing slow migrating alpha 1(I) and alpha 2(I) chains to 39.5 degrees C (compared to 41.5 degrees C for control), and to delay secretion of the over-modified type I procollagen from OI cells. These data are consistent with a mutation near the carboxyl-terminal end of the triple helical domain which delays triple helical formation and renders all chains available for further post-translational modification amino-terminal to the mutation. Such alterations in triple helical structure, thermal stability, and secretion previously associated only with the lethal OI type II phenotype are thus also seen in the mild OI type IV phenotype.

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