The ATP/ADP-antiporter inhibitors and the substrate ADP suppress the uncoupling effect induced by low (10-20 pM) concentrations of palmitate in mitochondria from skeletal muscle and liver. The inhibitors and ADP are found to (a) inhibit the palmitate-stimulated respiration in the controlled state and (b) increase the membrane potential lowered by palmitate. The degree of efficiency decreases in the order: carboxyatractylate (CAtr) > ADP > bongkrekic acid, atractylate. GDP is ineffective, Mg . ADP is of much smaller effect, whereas ATP is effective at much higher concentration than is ADP. Inhibitor concentrations, which maximally suppress the palmitate-stimulated respiration, correspond to those needed for arresting the state 3 respiration. The extent of the CAtr-sensitive stimulation of respiration by palmitate has been found to decrease with an increase in palmitate concentration. Stimulation of the controlled respiration by p-trifluoromethoxycarbonylcyanide phenylhydrozone (FCCP) and gramicidin D at any concentrations of these uncouplers is CAtr-insensitive, whereas that caused by a low concentrations of 2,4-dinitrophenol and dodecyl sulfate is inhibited by CAtr.The above effect of palmitate develops immediately after addition of the fatty acid. It is resistant to EGTA as well as to inhibitors of phospholipase (nupercain) and of lipid peroxidation (ionol). Moreover, palmitate accelerates spontaneous release of the respiratory control, developing in rat liver mitochondria under certain conditions. This effect takes several minutes, being sensitive to EGTA, nupercain and ionol. Like the fast uncoupling, this slow effect is inhibited by ADP but CAtr and atractylate are stimulatory rather than inhibitory.In artificial planar phospholipid membrane, palmitate does not increase the membrane conductance, FCCP increases it strongly and dinitrophenol only slightly.In cytochrome oxidase proteoliposomes, FCCP, gramicidin and dinitrophenol (less effectively) lower, whereas palmitate enhances the cytochrome-oxidase-generated membrane potential. In this system, monensin substitutes for palmitate.It is concluded that the ATP/ADP antiporter is somehow involved in the uncoupling effect caused by low concentrations of palmitate and, partially, of dinitrophenol, whereas uncoupling produced by FCCP and gramicidin is due to their action on the phospholipid part of the mitochondria1 membrane. A possible mechanism of this effect is discussed.The uncoupling of oxidation and phosphorylation by free (non-esterified) fatty acids has been studied since 1956 [l -111. The first indication that such an effect may be physiologically significant was obtained by our group in 1965 when it was shown that the fatty-acid-mediated uncoupling in skeletal muscle mitochondria is involved in the burst of heat production by cold-exposed pigeons [12]. Later it was reported that thermogenin, the protein responsible for the thermoregulatory uncoupling in brown fat mitochondria, is activated by fatty acids [I 31. Since thermogenin is absent from muscle mito...

Flash‐induced single‐electron reduction of cytochrome c oxidase. Compound F (oxoferryl state) by RuII(2,2'‐bipyridyl)2+ 3 [Nilsson (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 6497‐6501] gives rise to three phases of membrane potential generation in proteoliposomes with τ values and contributions of ca. 45 μs (20%), 1 ms (20%) and 5 ms (60%). The rapid phase is not sensitive to the binuclear centre ligands, such as cyanide or peroxide, and is assigned to vectorial electron transfer from CuA to heme a. The two slow phases kinetically match reoxidation of heme a, require added H2O2 or methyl peroxide for full development, and are completely inhibited by cyanide; evidently, they are associated with the reduction of Compound F to the Ox state by heme a. The charge transfer steps associated with the F to Ox conversion are likely to comprise (i) electrogenic uptake of a ‘chemical’ proton from the N phase required for protonation of the reduced oxygen atom and (ii) electrogenic H+ pumping across the membrane linked to the F to Ox transition. Assuming heme a ‘electrical location’ in the middle of the dielectric barrier, the ratio of the rapid to slow electrogenic phase amplitudes indicates that the F to Ox transition is linked to transmembrane translocation of 1.5 charges (protons) in addition to an electrogenic uptake of one ‘chemical’ proton required to form Fe3+‐OH− from Fe4+ = O2−. The shortfall in the number of pumped protons and the biphasic kinetics of the millisecond part of the electric response matching biphasic reoxidation of heme a may indicate the presence of 2 forms of Compound F, reduction of only one of which being linked to full proton pumping.

The three-dimensional structure of cytochrome coxidase (COX) reveals two potential input proton channels connecting the redox core of the enzyme with the negatively charged (N-) aqueous phase. These are denoted as the K-channel (for the highly conserved lysine residue, K362 in Rhodobacter sphaeroides COX) and the D-channel (for the highly conserved aspartate gating the channel at the N-side, D132 in R. sphaeroides). In this paper, it is shown that the K362M mutant form of COX from R. sphaeroides, although unable to turnover with dioxygen as electron acceptor, can utilize hydrogen peroxide as an electron acceptor, with either cytochrome c or ferrocyanide as electron donors, with turnover that is close to that of the wild-type enzyme. The peroxidase activity is similar to that of the wild-type oxidase and is coupled to the generation of a membrane potential and to proton pumping. In contrast, no peroxidase activity is revealed in the D-channel mutants of COX, D132N, and E286Q. Reduction by dithionite of heme a3 in the fully oxidized oxidase is severely inhibited in the K362M mutant, but not in the D132N mutant. Apparently, mutations in the D-channel arrest COX turnover by inhibiting proton uptake associated with the proton-pumping peroxidase phase of the COX catalytic cycle. In contrast, the K-channel appears to be dispensable for the peroxidase phase of the catalytic cycle, but is required for the initial reduction of the heme-copper binuclear center in the first half of the catalytic cycle.

Addition of high H2O2 concentrations to a peroxy complex of proteoliposome-bound cytochrome oxidase converts the complex to a spectrally distinct species. The difference spectrum of the high-peroxide compound versus the oxidized enzyme is characterized in a visible range by a broad symmetrical band at 580 nm (delta epsilon approximately equal to 4 mM-1 cm-1) with a minor second maximum at approximately 535 nm; a complete disappearance of the 605-607-nm peak occurs which is typical of the peroxy complex. In the Soret band, the spectrum of the high H2O2 compound is virtually indistinguishable from that of the initial peroxide adduct. The high-peroxide compound appears to be identical with an oxoferryl intermediate formed in the forward and reversed cytochrome oxidase reaction. The transition of the peroxy complex to the oxoferryl state is favored by alkaline pH and counteracted by ferricyanide. The peroxy and oxoferryl complexes of cytochrome c oxidase can also be formed with t-butylhydroperoxide.