Abstract
Cytochrome bc1 complex from bovine heart has been reconstituted into tubular crystals. The three-dimensional structure of the complex in lipid bilayer has been obtained at an effective resolution of 16 Å by electron cryomicroscopy and helical image reconstruction. The complex is in a dimeric form, in which the monomers are associated closely in extramembrane domains on both sides of the membrane. The large inner domain is distinctively hollow and the small outer domain consists of a flat mass and two bulbous extrusions. These domains are connected by two narrow transmembrane columns. Locations of the subunits and the redox centres in the model are proposed.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$189.00 per year
only $15.75 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brandt, U. & Trumpower, B. The protonmotive Q cycle in mitochondria and bacteria. Crit Rev. Biochem. molec. Biol. 29, 165–197 (1994).
Schägger, H., Link, T.A., Engel, W.D. & von Jagow, G . Isolation of the eleven protein subunits of the bc 1 complex from beef heart. Meth. Enzym. 126, 224–237 (1986).
González-Halphen, D., Lindorfer, M.A. & Capaldi, R.A. Subunit arrangement in beef heart complex III. Biochemistry 27, 7021–7031 (1988).
Weiss, H. & Leonard, K. Structure and function of mitochondrial ubiquinohcytochrome c reductase and NADH:ubiquinone reductase. Chem. Scr. 27B, 73–81 (1987).
Braun, H.P. & Schmitz, U.K. Are the ‘core’ proteins of the mitochondrial bc1 complex evolutionary relics of a processing protease? Trends Biochem. Sci. 20, 171–175 (1995).
Yu, L., Yang, F.D. & Yu, C.A. Interaction and identification of ubiquinone-binding proteins in ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase by azido-ubiquinone derivatives. J. Biol. Chem. 260, 963–973 (1985).
Wakabayashi, S., Matsubara, H., Kim, C.H. & King, T.E. Structural studies of bovine heart cytochrome c1 . J. Biol. Chem. 257, 9335–9344 (1982).
Borchart, U., Machleidt, W., Schägger, H., Link, T.A. & von Jagow, G. Isolation and amino acid sequence of the 8 kDa DCCD-binding protein of beef heart ubiquinokcytochrome c reductase. FEBS Lett. 191, 125–130 (1985).
Leonard, K., Wingfield, P., Arad, T. & Weiss, H. Three-dimensional structure of ubiquinol:cytochrome c reductase from Neurospora mitochondria determined by electron microscopy of membrane crystals. J. Mol. Biol. 149, 259–274 (1981).
Karlsson, B., Hovmöller, S., Weiss, H. & Leonard, K. Structural studies of cytochrome reductase. Subunit topography determined by electron microscopy of membrane crystals of a subcomplex. J. Mol. Biol. 165, 287–302 (1983).
Toyoshima, C. & Unwin, N. Ion channel of acetylcholine receptor reconstructed from images of postsynaptic membranes. Nature 336, 247–250 (1988).
Toyoshima, C., Sasabe, H. & Stokes, D.L. Three-dimensional cryo-electron microscopy of the calcium ion pump in the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane. Nature 362, 469–471 (1993).
Kawamoto, M. et al. New crystal forms and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of mitochondrial cytochrome bc 1, complex from bovine heart. J. Mol. Biol. 244, 238–241 (1994).
Hutchinson, G., Tichelaar, W., Weiss, H. & Leonard, K. Electron microscopic characterization of helical filaments formed by subunits I and II (core proteins) of ubiquinol: cytochrome c reductase from Neurospora mitochondria. J. Struct. Biol. 103, 75–88 (1990).
Schägger, H., von Jagow, G., Borchart, U. & Machleidt, W. Amino-acid sequence of the smallest protein of the cytochrome c1 subcomplex from beef heart mitochondria. Hoppe-Seyler's Z. Physiol. Chem. 364, 307–311 (1983).
Cocco, T. et al. Structural and functional characteristics of polypeptide subunits of the bovine heart ubiquinol—cytochrome-c reductase complex. Eur. J. Biochem. 195, 731–734 (1991).
Usui, S., Yu, L. & Yu, C.A. The small molecular mass ubiquinone-binding protein (QPc-9.5 kDa) in mitochondrial ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase: isolation, ubiquinone-binding domain, and immunoinhibition. Biochemistry 29, 4618–4626 (1990).
Usui, S., Yu, L., Harmon, J. & Yu, C.A. Immunochemical study of subunit VI (Mr 13,400) of mitochondrial ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 289, 109–117 (1991).
Linke, P. & Weiss, H. Reconstitution of ubiquinol-cytochrome-c reductase from Neurospora mitochondria with regard to subunits I and II. Meth. Enzym. 126, 201–210 (1986).
Link, T.A., Schägger, H. & von Jagow, G. Analysis of the structures of the subunits of the cytochrome bc 1 complex from beef heart mitochondria. FEBS Lett. 204, 9–15 (1986).
Brasseur, R. Calculation of the three-dimensional structure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome b inserted in a lipid matrix. J. Biol. Chem. 263, 12571–12575 (1988).
Delgi Esposti, M. et al. Mitochondrial cytochrome b: evolution and structure of the protein. Biochim Biophys Acta 1143, 243–271 (1993).
Wang, Y.D., Howton, M.M. & Beattie, D.S. Topographical organization of cytochrome b in the yeast mitochondrial membrane determined by fluorescence studies with N-cyclohexyl-N′-[4-(dimethylamino) naphthyl]carbodiimide. Biochemistry 34, 7476–7482 (1995).
Schmitt, M.E. & Trumpower, B.L. Subunit 6 regulates half-of-the-sites reactivity of the dimeric cytochrome bc1 complex in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J. Biol. Chem. 265, 17005–17011 (1990).
González-Halphen, D., Vazquez-Acevedo, M. & Garcia-Ponce, B. On the interaction of mitochondrial complex III with the Rieske iron-sulfur protein (subunit V). J. Biol. Chem. 266, 3870–3876 (1991).
Trumpower, B.L. Function of the iron-sulfur protein of the cytochrome bc1 segment in electron transfer and energy-conserving reactions of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Bioch. et Biophys. Acta 639, 129–155 (1981).
Wakabayashi, S., Takeda, H., Matsubara, H., Kim, C.H. & King, T.E. Identity of the heme-not-containing protein in bovine heart cytochrome c 1 preparation with the protein mediating c 1-c complex formation—a protein with high glutamic acid content. J. Biochem. Tokyo 91, 2077–2085 (1982).
Bechmann, G., Weiss, H. & Rich, P.R. Non-linear inhibition curves for tight-binding inhibitors of dimeric ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductases.Evidence for rapid inhibitor mobility. Eur. J. Biochem. 208, 315–325 (1992).
Valpuesta, J.M., Goni, F.M., Alonso, A., Arrondo, J.L. & Macarulla, J.M. Lipid-protein interactions.The mitochondrial complex III-phosphatidylcholine-water system. Bioch. et Biophys. Acta 942, 341–352 (1988).
Schägger, H. et al. Phospholipid specificity of bovine heart bc1 complex. Eur. J. Biochem. 190, 123–130 (1990).
Kubota, T. et al. Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies of bovine heart mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex. J. Mol. Biol. 221, 379–382 (1991).
Yue, W.H., Zou, Y.P., Yu, L. & Yu, C.A. Crystallization of mitochondrial ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase. Biochemistry 30, 2303–2306 (1991).
Berry, E.A., Huang, L.S., Earnest, T.N. & Jap, B.K. X-ray diffraction by crystals of beef heart ubiquinol: cytochrome c oxidoreductase. J. Mol. Biol. 224, 1161–1166 (1992).
Fleischer, S., Klouwen, H. & Brierley, G. Studies of the electron transfer system, XXXVIII. lipid composition of purified enzyme preparations derived from beef heart mitochondria. J. biol. Chem. 236, 2936–2941 (1961).
Toyoshima, C. & Unwin, N. Three-dimensional structure of the acetylcholine receptor by cryoelectron microscopy and helical image reconstruction. J. Cell Biol. 111, 2623–2635 (1990).
Mimori, Y. et al. The structure of the R-type straight flagellar filament of Salmonella at 9 Å resolution by electron cryomicroscopy. J. Mol. Biol. 249, 69–87 (1995).
Musatov, A. & Robinson, N.C. Subunit analysis of bovine cytochrome bc 1 by reverse-phase HPLC and determination of the subunit molecular masses by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Biochemistry 33, 10561–10567 (1994).
Anderson, S. et al. Complete sequence of bovine mitochondrial DNA. Conserved features of the mammalian mitochondrial genome. J. Mol. Biol. 156, 683–717 (1982).
Brandt, U., Uribe, S., Schägger, H. & Trumpower, B.L. Isolation and characterization of QCR10, the nuclear gene encoding the 8.5-kDa subunit 10 of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytochrome bc1 complex. J. Biol. Chem. 269, 12947–12953 (1994).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Akiba, T., Toyoshima, C., Matsunaga, T. et al. Three-dimensional structure of bovine cytochrome bC1 complex by electron cryomicroscopy and helical image reconstruction. Nat Struct Mol Biol 3, 553–561 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0696-553
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0696-553
This article is cited by
-
Polystyrene adsorbents: rapid and efficient surrogate for dialysis in membrane protein purification
Scientific Reports (2020)
-
Structural basis for the mechanism of electron bifurcation at the quinol oxidation site of the cytochrome bc 1 complex
Photosynthesis Research (2007)