Atm1p, a mitochondrial half-type ATP-binding cassette (ABC) protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, transports a precursor of the iron-sulfur (Fe/S) cluster from mitochondria to the cytosol. We have identified a novel half-type human ABC protein, designating it MTABC3 (mammalian mitochondrial ABC protein 3). MTABC3 mRNA is ubiquitously expressed in all of the rat and human tissues examined. MTABC3 protein is shown to be present in the mitochondria, as assessed by immunoblot analysis and confocal microscopic analysis of subcellular fractions of Chinese hamster ovary cells stably expressing MTABC3. Accumulation of iron in the mitochondria, mitochondrial DNA damage, and respiratory dysfunction in the yeast ATM1 mutant strain (atm1-1 mutant cells) were almost fully reversed by expressing MTABC3 in these mutant cells. These results indicate that MTABC3 is a novel ortholog of the yeast and suggest an important role in mitochondrial function. Interestingly, the human MTABC3 gene has been mapped to chromosome 2q36, a region within the candidate locus for lethal neonatal metabolic syndrome, a disorder of the mitochondrial function associated with iron metabolism, indicating that MTABC3 is a candidate gene for this disorder. ATP-binding cassette (ABC)1 proteins constitute one of the largest superfamily of membrane proteins in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, and their general structures are well conserved in evolution (1, 2). In eukaryotes, most of the members of the ABC protein family function as ATP-dependent active transporters in the plasma membranes and the membranes of intracellular organelle, including the endoplasmic reticulum, vacuoles, peroxisome, and mitochondria (3-7). Some ABC proteins, however, function as ion channels or regulators of ion channels (2,8,9). Recently, mutations of ABC proteins have been shown to be responsible for various genetic diseases in man (10). Mitochondria provide cells with energy for many biological functions by oxidative phosphorylation. Reactive oxygen species are by-products of respiration. Their interaction with free iron in mitochondria through the Fenton reaction could lead to oxidative damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA in mitochondria (11,12), suggesting that iron homeostasis is crucial in the maintenance of mitochondrial function.Atm1p was the first member of the ABC protein family identified in mitochondria (7), and it plays an important role in normal cellular growth and iron homeostasis (11, 13). Further analysis of Atm1p has shown that it transports the precursor of the Fe/S cluster from mitochondria to the cytosol (14). Because mutation of ATM1 results in mitochondrial dysfunction (11), mutations of human mitochondrial ABC proteins could be associated with various diseases. Although the complete genomic sequences of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli predict the existence of 29 and 79 members of the ABC protein family, respectively (15, 16), only a few mitochondrial ABC proteins have been identified to date.In the course of our search for human ABC p...

We have isolated a Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant that shows an increased tendency to form cytoplasmic petites (respiration-deficient rho- or rho0 mutants) in response to treatment of cells growing on a solid medium with the DNA-damaging agent methyl methane-sulfonate or ultraviolet light. The mutation in this strain, atm1-1, was found to cause a single amino acid substitution in ATM1, a nuclear gene that encodes the mitochondrial ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter. When the mutant cells were grown in liquid glucose medium, they accumulated free iron within the mitochondria and at the same time gave rise to spontaneous cytoplasmic petite mutants, as seen previously in cells carrying a mutation in a gene homologous to the human gene responsible for Friedreich's ataxia. Analysis of the effects of free iron and malonic acid (an inhibitor of oxidative respiration in mitochondria) on the incidence of petites among the mutant cells indicated that spontaneous induction of petites was a consequence of oxidative stress rather than a direct effect of either a defect in the ATM1 gene or the accumulation of free iron. We observed an increase in the incidence of strand breaks in the mitochondrial DNA of the atm1-1 mutant cells. Furthermore, we found that rates of induction of petites and accumulation of strand breaks in mitochondrial DNA were enhanced in the atm1-1 mutant by the introduction of another mutation, mhr1-1, which results in a deficiency in mitochondrial DNA repair. These observations indicate that spontaneous induction of petites in the atm1-1 mutant is a consequence of oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA mediated by enhanced accumulation of mitochondrial iron.

Human ATP-binding cassette, sub-family B, member 6 (ABCB6) is a mitochondrial ABC transporter, and presumably contributes to iron homeostasis. Aimed at understanding the structural basis for the conformational changes accompanying the substrate-transportation cycle, we have studied the C-terminal nucleotide-binding domain of ABCB6 (ABCB6-C) in both the nucleotide-free and ADP-bound states by heteronuclear multidimensional NMR and homology modelling. A non-linear sampling scheme was utilised for indirectly acquired 13C and 15N dimensions of all 3D triple-resonance NMR experiments, in order to overcome the instability and the low solubility of ABCB6-C. The backbone resonances for approximately 25% of non-proline residues, which are mostly distributed around the functionally important loops and in the Helical domain, were not observed for nucleotide-free form of ABCB6-C. From the pH, temperature and magnetic field strength dependencies of the resonance intensities, we concluded that this incompleteness in the assignments is mainly due to the exchange between multiple conformations at an intermediate rate on the NMR timescale. These localised conformational dynamics remained in ADP-bound ABCB6-C except for the loops responsible for adenine base and alpha/beta-phosphate binding. These results revealed that the localised dynamic cooperativity, which was recently proposed for a prokaryotic ABC MJ1267, also exists in a higher eukaryotic ABC, and is presumably shared by all members of the ABC family. Since the Helical domain is the putative interface to the transmembrane domain, this cooperativity may explain the coupled functions between domains in the substrate-transportation cycle.

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