Cell respiration in mitochondria and some bacteria is catalysed by cytochrome c oxidase, which reduces O2 to water, coupled with translocation of four protons across the mitochondrial or bacterial membrane. The enzyme's catalytic cycle consists of a reductive phase, in which the oxidized enzyme receives electrons from cytochrome c, and an oxidative phase, in which the reduced enzyme is oxidized by O2. Previous studies indicated that proton translocation is coupled energetically only to the oxidative phase, but this has been challenged. Here, with the purified enzyme inlaid in liposomes, we report time-resolved measurements of membrane potential, which show that half of the electrical charges due to proton-pumping actually cross the membrane during reduction after a preceding oxidative phase. pH measurements confirm that proton translocation also occurs during reduction, but only when immediately preceded by an oxidative phase. We conclude that all the energy for proton translocation is conserved in the enzyme during its oxidation by O2. One half of it is utilized for proton-pumping during oxidation, but the other half is unlatched for this purpose only during re-reduction of the enzyme.

Complex I functions as a redox-linked proton pump in the respiratory chains of mitochondria and bacteria, driven by the reduction of quinone (Q) by NADH. Remarkably, the distance between the Q reduction site and the most distant proton channels extends nearly 200 Å. To elucidate the molecular origin of this long-range coupling, we apply a combination of large-scale molecular simulations and a site-directed mutagenesis experiment of a key residue. In hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations, we observe that reduction of Q is coupled to its local protonation by the His-38/Asp-139 ion pair and Tyr-87 of subunit Nqo4. Atomistic classical molecular dynamics simulations further suggest that formation of quinol (QH 2 ) triggers rapid dissociation of the anionic Asp-139 toward the membrane domain that couples to conformational changes in a network of conserved charged residues. Site-directed mutagenesis data confirm the importance of Asp-139; upon mutation to asparagine the Q reductase activity is inhibited by 75%. The current results, together with earlier biochemical data, suggest that the proton pumping in complex I is activated by a unique combination of electrostatic and conformational transitions.NADH-quinone oxidoreductase | electron transfer | molecular dynamics simulations | QM/MM simulations | cell respiration C omplex I (NADH-quinone oxidoreductase) is the largest (550-980 kDa) and one of the most enigmatic enzymes of the electron transport chains of mitochondria and bacteria. It catalyzes electron transfer (eT) from reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) to quinone (Q) and couples the reaction to translocation of three to four protons across the membrane (1, 2). The established electrochemical proton gradient is further used to synthesize adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for active transport (3). Due to its central role in cellular respiration, elucidating the catalytic mechanism of complex I is crucial for understanding the molecular principles of biological energy transduction and for unveiling the origins of many mitochondrial disorders (4).The electrons donated by NADH to complex I are transferred via flavin mononucleotide (FMN) to Q, bound at the lower edge of the hydrophilic domain at a distance of ∼80 Å from the FMN (Fig. 1). The eT process is mediated by seven to eight iron-sulfur (FeS) clusters, depending on the organism, and takes place in ∼100 μs (5). It is believed that the eT process does not couple to proton translocation, which is likely to occur on millisecond timescales (5, 6), but it is rather the oxidoreduction chemistry of the bound Q molecule that drives the proton pump (2, 5-9; cf. ref. 10).The proton-pumping machinery of complex I is located in the membrane domain of the enzyme (9) and is responsible for pumping three to four protons across the membrane (Fig. 1) (8, 11). Biochemical and structural studies suggest that the reduction of Q activates the proton pump via a conformationaldriven coupling mechanism, accompanied by electrostatic gating (2, 6-8, 12-14). A ...

Electron transfer in complex I from Escherichia coli was investigated by an ultrafast freeze-quench approach. The reaction of complex I with NADH was stopped in the time domain from 90 s to 8 ms and analyzed by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy at low temperatures. The data show that after binding of the first molecule of NADH, two electrons move via the FMN cofactor to the iron-sulfur (Fe/S) centers N1a and N2 with an apparent time constant of Ϸ90 s, implying that these two centers should have the highest redox potential in the enzyme. The rate of reduction of center N2 (the last center in the electron transfer sequence) is close to that predicted by electron transfer theory, which argues for the absence of coupled proton transfer or conformational changes during electron transfer from FMN to N2. After fast reduction of N1a and N2, we observe a slow, Ϸ1-ms component of reduction of other Fe/S clusters. Because all elementary electron transfer rates between clusters are several orders of magnitude higher than this observed rate, we conclude that the millisecond component is limited by a single process corresponding to dissociation of the oxidized NAD ؉ molecule from its binding site, where it prevents entry of the next NADH molecule. Despite the presence of approximately one ubiquinone per enzyme molecule, no transient semiquinone formation was observed, which has mechanistic implications, suggesting a high thermodynamic barrier for ubiquinone reduction to the semiquinone radical. Possible consequences of these findings for the proton translocation mechanism are discussed.EPR spectroscopy ͉ Escherichia coli ͉ freeze-quench ͉ iron-sulfur clusters ͉ reactive oxygen species C omplex I is one of the three key enzymes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The simpler prokaryotic version contains the same cofactors and performs the same major function as its eukaryotic counterpart (1). Complex I couples electron transfer from NADH to ubiquinone to translocation of 2 H ϩ /e Ϫ across the membrane (2). It is a true redox-linked proton pump, as is complex IV (3), but is distinct from complex III, which generates the electrochemical proton gradient across the membrane by a redox loop mechanism (4). Complex I consists of membrane and extramembrane domains (1). A recent structure of the latter (5) established the relative positions of the NADH-oxidizing cofactor FMN and several iron-sulfur (Fe/S) clusters that provide an electron transfer pathway to the electron acceptor, ubiquinone, in the membrane domain (Fig. 1). There is no high-resolution structure of the membrane domain, which must contain the machinery of proton translocation. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of complex I reveals individual signals of two binuclear and several tetranuclear Fe/S clusters (6). Equilibrium redox titrations have shown that the tetranuclear cluster N2, the last in the chain (Fig. 1), has the highest midpoint redox potential (E m ), approximately Ϫ150 mV vs. NHE. One of the binuclear clusters, N1a, has b...

The reaction of cytochrome c oxidase with dioxygen has been studied by means of time-resolved measurements of electrical membrane potential (DeltaPsi). Microsecond time resolution was achieved by starting with the CO-inhibited enzyme, which was photolyzed after addition of oxygen. The time course of the reaction could be fitted by using a five-step sequential reaction as a model. The first two phases of the reaction, which correspond in time to binding of oxygen followed by formation of the P (peroxy) intermediate, as observed spectroscopically, are not associated with net charge displacement across the membrane. After this lag, DeltaPsi develops in three phases, which correspond in time to the conversion of P to the F (ferryl) intermediate, in a single phase, and conversion of F to O (the fully oxidized enzyme), in two phases. The amplitude of DeltaPsi was approximately equal for the P --> F and F --> O portions of the reaction. When the oxygen reaction is started with incompletely reduced enzyme, it will halt at the P or F state. When the reaction was allowed to proceed to the F state, but no further, only the fast phase of DeltaPsi formation was observed, whereas no DeltaPsi was generated if the reaction was halted at P. This finding places the assignments of phases in the electrometric data on a firmer basis-they are no longer based solely on temporal correspondence with phases in the spectroscopic data. To define the number of charges transferred across the membrane during the reaction, some kind of calibration is needed. For this purpose, another type of reaction-electron transfer following CO photolysis in the absence of oxygen ("backflow")-was studied. Parallel spectroscopic and electrometric measurements showed that the fast electron transfer from the low-spin heme to CuA in the backflow process results in approximately 11 times smaller amplitude of DeltaPsi as compared with DeltaPsi generated in the reaction of the reduced enzyme with oxygen (the polarity is also reversed). If it is assumed that transfer of an electron from the low-spin heme to CuA amounts to movement of a unit charge across half of the membrane dielectric, charge translocation in the reaction of the reduced enzyme with oxygen amounts to approximately 5.5 unit charges-the value predicted if all four protons pumped during the catalytic cycle are translocated during the oxidative part of the reaction.

The Na(+)-translocating NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Na(+)-NQR) generates an electrochemical Na(+) potential driven by aerobic respiration. Previous studies on the enzyme from Vibrio alginolyticus have shown that the Na(+)-NQR has six subunits, and it is known to contain FAD and an FeS center as redox cofactors. In the current work, the enzyme from the marine bacterium Vibrio harveyi has been purified and characterized. In addition to FAD, a second flavin, tentatively identified as FMN, was discovered to be covalently attached to the NqrC subunit. The purified V. harveyi Na(+)-NQR was reconstituted into proteoliposomes. The generation of a transmembrane electric potential by the enzyme upon NADH:Q(1) oxidoreduction was strictly dependent on Na(+), resistant to the protonophore CCCP, and sensitive to the sodium ionophore ETH-157, showing that the enzyme operates as a primary electrogenic sodium pump. Interior alkalinization of the inside-out proteoliposomes due to the operation of the Na(+)-NQR was accelerated by CCCP, inhibited by valinomycin, and completely arrested by ETH-157. Hence, the protons required for ubiquinol formation must be taken up from the outside of the liposomes, which corresponds to the bacterial cytoplasm. The Na(+)-NQR operon from this bacterium was sequenced, and the sequence shows strong homology to the previously reported Na(+)-NQR operons from V. alginolyticus and Haemophilus influenzae. Homology studies show that a number of other bacteria, including a number of pathogenic species, also have an Na(+)-NQR operon.