stigmatellin and mucidin

The kinetic and circular dichroic properties of two yeast mutants that are resistant towards specific inhibitors of the mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex have been characterized. Both of these mutants have an altered cytochrome b gene in which aromatic residues are exchanged with non-polar residues in a highly conserved region of the protein. The mutant resistant to myxothiazol and mucidin that contains the substitution Phe129----Leu is not greatly affected either in its ubiquinol:cytochrome c reductase or in the spectral properties of cytochrome b. On the other hand, the mutant resistant to stigmatellin that contains the substitution Ile147----Phe shows a large decrease of the catalytic efficiency for ubiquinol and of the maximal turnover of its reductase activity. This stigmatellin mutant also shows an altered circular-dichroic spectrum of the low-potential haem of cytochrome b. This study provides biochemical and biophysical information for identifying a region in mitochondrial cytochrome b that may fulfill a crucial role in the binding of ubiquinol to the bc1 complex. The results are discussed also in terms of the structural model of cytochrome b having a core of four transmembrane helices.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Circular Dichroism; Cytochrome b Group; Electron Transport Complex III; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; Kinetics; Methacrylates; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Polyenes; Protein Conformation; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Strobilurins; Thiazoles

Seven single-site mutants in six residues of the cyt b polypeptide of Rhodobacter capsulatus selected for resistance to the Qo site inhibitors stigmatellin, myxothiazol, or mucidin [Daldal, F., Tokito, M.K., Davidson, E., & Faham, M. (1989) EMBO J. 8, 3951-3961] have been characterized by using optical and EPR spectroscopy and single-turnover kinetic analysis. The strains were compared with wild-type strain MT1131 and with the Ps- strain R126 (G158D), which is dysfunctional in its Qo site [Robertson, D.E., Davidson, E., Prince, R.C., van den Berg, W.H., Marrs, B.L., & Dutton, P.L. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 584-591]. Mutants selected for stigmatellin resistance induced a weakening in the binding of the inhibitor without discernible loss of ubiquinone(Q)/ubiquinol(QH2) binding affinity to the Qo site or kinetic impairment to catalysis. Mutants selected for myxothiazol or mucidin resistance, inducing weakening of inhibitor binding, all displayed impaired rates of Qo site catalysis: The most severe cases (F144L, F144S) displayed loss of affinity for Q, and evidence suggests that parallel loss of affinity for the substrate QH2 was incurred in these strains. The results provide a view of the nature of the interaction of Q and QH2 of the Qpool with the Qo site. Consideration of the mutational substitutions and their structural positions along with comparisons with the QA and QB sites of the photosynthetic reaction center suggests a model for the structure of the Qo site.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Cytochrome b Group; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; Electron Transport; Electron Transport Complex III; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; Kinetics; Methacrylates; Models, Structural; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Oxidation-Reduction; Polyenes; Protein Conformation; Rhodobacter capsulatus; Strobilurins; Thiazoles; Ubiquinone

Several spontaneous mutants of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus resistant to myxothiazol, stigmatellin and mucidin--inhibitors of the ubiquinol: cytochrome c oxidoreductase (cyt bc1 complex)--were isolated. They were grouped into eight different classes based on their genetic location, growth properties and inhibitor cross-resistance. The petABC (fbcFBC) cluster that encodes the structural genes for the Rieske FeS protein, cyt b and cyt c1 subunits of the cyt bc1 complex was cloned out of the representative isolates and the molecular basis of inhibitor-resistance was determined by DNA sequencing. These data indicated that while one group of mutations was located outside the petABC(fbcFBC) cluster, the remainder were single base pair changes in codons corresponding to phylogenetically conserved amino acid residues of cyt b. Of these substitutions, F144S conferred resistance to myxothiazol, T163A and V333A to stigmatellin, L106P and G152S to myxothiazol + mucidin and M140I and F144L to myxothiazol + stigmatellin. In addition, a mutation (aer126) which specifically impairs the quinol oxidase (Qz) activity of the cyt bc1 complex of a non-photosynthetic mutant (R126) was identified to be a glycine to an aspartic acid replacement at position 158 of cyt b. Six of these mutations were found between amino acid residues 140 and 163, in a region linking the putative third and fourth transmembrane helices of cyt b. The non-random clustering of several inhibitor-resistance mutations around the non-functional aer126 mutation suggests that this region may be involved in the formation of the Qz inhibitor binding/quinol oxidation domain(s) of the cyt bc1 complex. Of the two remaining mutations, the V333A replacement conferred resistance to stigmatellin exclusively and was located in another region toward the C terminus of cyt b. The L106P substitution, on the other hand, was situated in the transmembrane helix II that carries two conserved histidine residues (positions 97 and 111 in R. capsulatus) considered to be the axial ligands for the heme groups of cyt b. The structural and functional roles of the amino acid residues involved in the acquisition of Qz inhibitor resistance are discussed in terms of the primary structure of cyt b and in relation to the natural inhibitor-resistance of various phylogenetically related cyt bc/bf complexes.

Topics: Alkenes; Amino Acid Sequence; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antifungal Agents; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Electron Transport Complex III; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; Genes, Bacterial; Methacrylates; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Phenotype; Polyenes; Protein Conformation; Restriction Mapping; Rhodopseudomonas; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Strobilurins; Thiazoles