Isolation and characterization of mutants defective in the cyanide-insensitive respiratory pathway of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The branched respiratory chain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa contains at least two terminal oxidases which are active under normal physiological conditions. One of these, cytochrome co, is a cytochrome c oxidase which is completely inhibited by concentrations of the respiratory inhibitor potassium cyanide as low as 100 microM. The second oxidase, the cyanide-insensitive oxidase, is resistant to cyanide concentrations in excess of 1 mM as well as to sodium azide. In this work, we describe the isolation and characterization of a mutant of P. aeruginosa defective in cyanide-insensitive respiration. This insertion mutant was isolated with mini-D171 (a replication-defective derivative of the P. aeruginosa phage D3112) as a mutagen and by screening the resulting tetracycline-resistant transductants for the loss of ability to grow in the presence of 1 mM sodium azide. Polarographic studies on the NADH-mediated respiration rate of the mutant indicated an approximate 50% loss of activity, and titration of this activity against increasing cyanide concentrations gave a monophasic curve clearly showing the complete loss of cyanide-insensitive respiration. The mutated gene for a mutant affected in the cyanide-insensitive, oxidase-terminated respiratory pathway has been designated cio. We have complemented the azide-sensitive phenotype of this mutant with a wild-type copy of the gene by in vivo cloning with another mini-D element, mini-D386, carried on plasmid pADD386. The complemented cio mutant regained the ability to grow on medium containing 1 mM azide, titration of its NADH oxidase activity with cyanide gave a biphasic curve similar to that of the wild-type organism, and the respiration rate returned to normal levels. Spectral analysis of the cytochrome contents of the membranes of the wild type, the cio mutant, and the complemented mutant suggests that the cio mutant is not defective in any membrane-bound cytochromes and that the complementing gene does not encode a heme protein.     

Evidence for target site insensitivity to cyanide in Spodoptera eridania larvae

• 1.1. Isolated mitochondria from the whole southern armyworm larvae, Spodoptera eridania, show all of the characteristics of mammalian liver mitochondria, except for target site sensitivity to cyanide.
• 2.2. The armyworm larval mitochondria are 17 times less sensitive to cyanide when compared to rat liver mitochondria and cannot be completely inhibited with extremely large doses.
• 3.3. These data suggest the presence in the southern armyworm of either a cyanide-insensitive cytochrome oxidase, or the elaboration of cyanide-insensitive oxidative pathway reminiscent of an alternative oxidative pathway that is known to coexist in plants alongside the cyanide-sensitive pathway.

     

Impact of pulmonary arterial endothelial cells on duroquinone redox status

The study objective was to use pulmonary arterial endothelial cells to examine kinetics and mechanisms contributing to the disposition of the quinone 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-1,4-benzoquinone (duroquinone, DQ) observed during passage through the pulmonary circulation. The approach was to add DQ, durohydroquinone (DQH2), or DQ with the cell membrane-impermeant oxidizing agent, ferricyanide (Fe(CN)6(3)-), to the cell medium, and to measure the medium concentrations of substrates and products over time. Studies were carried out under control conditions and with dicumarol, to inhibit NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), or cyanide, to inhibit mitochondrial electron transport. In control cells, DQH2 appears in the extracellular medium of cells incubated with DQ, and DQ appears when the cells are incubated with DQH2. Dicumarol blocked the appearance of DQH2 when DQ was added to the cell medium, and cyanide blocked the appearance of DQ when DQH2 was added to the cell medium, suggesting that the two electron reductase NQO1 dominates DQ reduction and mitochondrial electron transport complex III is the predominant route of DQH2 oxidation. In the presence of cyanide, the addition of DQ also resulted in an increased rate of appearance of DQH2 and stimulation of cyanide-insensitive oxygen consumption. As DQH2 does not autoxidize-comproportionate over the study time course, these observations suggest a cyanide-stimulated one-electron DQ reduction and durosemiquinone (DQ*-) autoxidation. The latter processes are apparently confined to the cell interior, as the cell membrane impermeant oxidant, ferricyanide, did not inhibit the DQ-stimulated cyanide-insensitive oxygen consumption. Thus, regardless of whether DQ is reduced via a one- or two-electron reduction pathway, the net effect in the extracellular medium is the appearance of DQH2. These endothelial redox functions and their apposition to the vessel lumen are consistent with the pulmonary endothelium being an important site of DQ reduction to DQH2 observed in the lungs.     

Malic enzyme activity and cyanide-insensitive electron transport in plant mitochondria.

In the presence of exogenous NAD⁺, malate oxidation by cauliflower mitochondria takes place essentially via an electron transport pathway that is insensitive to rotenone, antimycin and cyanide but is strongly sensitive to salicyl hydroxamic acid. It bypasses all phosphorylation sites. NAD⁺ is reduced by an enzyme identified as malic enzyme (L-malate:NAD oxidoreductase (decarboxylating), EC 1.1.1.39). The NADH produced is reoxidized by an internal rotenone-insensitive NADH dehydrogenase that yields electrons directly to the cyanide-insensitive pathway.     

Cyanide-insensitive respiration of Candida lipolytica

Whole cells of the yeast Candida lipolytica exhibited a high, cyanide-sensitive endogenous respiration which became completely cyanide-insensitive under certain physiological circumstances namely (1) in the stationary phase of growth and (2) upon aeration in the resting state. This cannot be due to a change in permeability of the cell wall as the respiration of protoplasts showed the same (in)sensitivity to cyanide as the cells from which they were obtained.The cyanide-insensitive respiration of C. lipolytica was located in the mitochondria and coexisted with the normal respiratory chain, as the mitochondria isolated from cyanide-insensitive cells exhibited at the same time a cyanidesensitive respiration of ascorbate and N,N,N,N-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine and a cyanide-insensitive respiration of succinate.The alternate respiratory pathway was sensitive to benzyl- and salicylhydroxamic acids. In this respect it resembles the alternate mitochondrial pathway described in the literature for various plants.The cyanide-insensitive respiration did not appear in the resting state when the cells were aerated in the presence of cycloheximide nor at 0 C instead of at room temperature. These facts suggest some form of induction involving new protein synthesis. The induction process depends on the presence of molecular oxygen as the cyanide-insensitive endogenous respiration did not appear during agitation of yeast cells in the resting state if the gaseous atmosphere lacked oxygen.     

Energy conservation by the plant mitochondrial cyanide-insensitive oxidase. Some additional evidence.

Several measures of energy conservation, namely ADP/O ratio, P/O ratio, ATP/O ratio and phosphorylation detected by continuous assay with purified firefly luciferase and luciferin, all show phosphorylation can occur with mung-bean mitochondria at cyanide concentrations sufficient to inhibit the cytochrome oxidase system. Phosphorylation in the presence of cyanide is uncoupler- oligomycin- and salicylhydroxamate-sensitive. The participation of phosphorylation site 1 is excluded, phosphorylation being attributable to a single phosphorylation site associated with the cyanide-insensitive oxidase. The cyanide-insensitive oxidase has also been shown to support a variety of other energy-linked functions, namely, Ca2+ uptake, reversed electron transport and the maintenance of a membrane potential detected by the dye probes 8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulphonate and safranine. High concentrations of cyanide have uncoupler-like activity, decreasing the ADP/O ratio and the t 1/2 for the decay of a pH pulse through the the mitochondrial membrane. This uncoupler-like effect is most marked with aged mitochondria. The observations of energy conservation attributable to the cyanide-insensitive oxidase are compared with other reports where it is concluded that the alternative oxidase is uncoupled.     

Malate Oxidation and Cyanide-Insensitive Respiration in Avocado Mitochondria during the Climacteric Cycle

After preparation on self-generated Percoll gradients, avocado (Persea americana Mill, var. Fuerte and Hass) mitochondria retain a high proportion of cyanide-insensitive respiration, especially with α-ketoglutarate and malate as substrates. Whereas α-ketoglutarate oxidation remains unchanged, the rate of malate oxidation increases as ripening advances through the climacteric. An enhancement of mitochondrial malic enzyme activity, measured by the accumulation of pyruvate, closely parallels the increase of malate oxidation. The capacity for cyanide-insensitive respiration is also considerably enhanced while respiratory control decreases (from 3.3 to 1.7), leading to high state 4 rates.

Both malate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme are functional in state 3, but malic enzyme appears to predominate before the addition of ADP and after its depletion. In the presence of cyanide, a membrane potential is generated when the alterntive pathway is operating. Cyanide-insensitive malate oxidation can be either coupled to the first phosphorylation site, sensitive to rotenone, or by-pass this site. In the absence of phosphate acceptor, malate oxidation is mainly carried out via malic enzyme and the alternative pathway. Experimental modification of the external mitochondrial environment in vitro (pH, NAD⁺, glutamade) results in changes in malate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme activities, which also modify cyanide resistance. It appears that a functional connection exists between malic enzyme and the alternative pathway via a rotenone-insensitive NADH dehydrogenase and that this pathway is responsible, in part, for nonphosphorylating respiratory activity during the climacteric.

     

Respiration, cyanide-insensitive oxygen uptake and oxidative phosphorylation in cyanobacteria

Cyanide-insensitive oxygen uptake in the dark of 9 species of cyanobacteria was 6–20% of the total oxygen uptake of intact cells. In Phormidium , no cyanideinsensitive oxygen uptake was observed. In intact cells, the I₅₀ value for cyanide was significantly lower in cyanobacteria of the taxonomic sections I to III (1–9 μ M ) than in those from section IV and V (10–60 μ M ). Cyanide-insensitive oxygen uptake in the cell-free system of Anabaena variabilis was not affected by typical inhibitors of the alternative pathway of plants. Cell-free oxidation of cytochrome c was completely inhibited by cyanide with an I₅₀ value of 0.5–1 μ M . Electron transport of intact cells without cyanide present yielded P/O ratios of 0.7–3.0. The data on oxidative phosphorylation using intact cells and the cell-free system, indicate that cyanide-insensitive oxygen uptake is not coupled to ATP formation.     

2,6-Dichloro-phenol indophenol prevents switch-over of electrons between the cyanide-sensitive and -insensitive pathway of the mitochondrial electron transport chain in the presence of inhibitors

To evolve a simple oxygen electrode-based method to estimate alternative respiration, one needs to develop a procedure to prevent switch-over of electrons to either pathway upon inhibition by cyanide or salicylhydroxamic acid. It was hypothesized that the inclusion of appropriate electron acceptor, possessing redox potential close to one of the electron transport carriers in between ubiquinone (branch point) and cytochrome a-a3, should be able to stop switch-over of electrons to either pathway by working as an electron sink. To test the hypothesis, 2,6-dichloro-phenol indophenol (DCPIP; redox potential +0.217 V), an artificial electron acceptor having a redox potential quite similar to the site near cytochrome c1 (redox potential +0.22 V) on the cyanide-sensitive pathway, was used with isolated mitochondria and leaf discs in the absence and presence of inhibitors (potassium cyanide, antimycin A, and salicylhydroxamic acid). Polarographic data confirmed electron acceptance by DCPIP only from the inhibited (by cyanide or salicylhydroxamic acid) mitochondrial electron transport chain, hence preventing switch-over of electrons between the cyanide-sensitive and cyanide-insensitive pathway of respiration. Results with antimycin A and reduction status of DCPIP further confirmed electron acceptance by DCPIP from the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Possible implications of the results have been discussed.     

The Respiratory Chain of Plant Mitochondria. I. Electron Transport Between Succinate and Oxygen in Skunk Cabbage Mitochondria

The kinetics of oxidation of ubiquinone, flavoprotein, cytochrome c, and the cytochrome b complex in skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) mitochondria made anaerobic with succinate have been measured spectrophotometrically and fluorimetrically in the absence of respiratory inhibitor and in the presence of cyanide or antimycin A. No component identifiable by these means was oxidized rapidly enough in the presence of one or the other inhibitor to qualify for the role of alternate oxidase. Cycles of oxidation and rereduction of flavoprotein and ubiquinone obtained by injecting 12 mum oxygen into the anaerobic mitochondrial suspension were kinetically indistinguishable in the presence of cyanide or antimycin A, implying that these 2 components are part of a respiratory pathway between succinate and oxygen which does not involve the cytochromes and does involve a cyanide-insensitive alternate oxidase. The cytochrome b complex shows biphasic oxidation kinetics with half times of 0.018 sec and 0.4 sec in the absence of inhibitor, which increase to 0.2 sec and 1 sec in the presence of cyanide. In the presence of antimycin A, the oxidation of the cytochrome b complex shows an induction period of 1 sec and a half-time of 3.5 sec. A split respiratory chain with 2 terminal oxidases and a branch point between the cytochromes and flavoprotein and ubiquinone is proposed for these mitochondria.     

Altered Mitochondrial Respiration in a Chromosomal Mutant of Neurospora crassa

A mutant of Neurospora crassa (cni-1) has been isolated that has two pathways of mitochondrial respiration. One pathway is sensitive to cyanide and antimycin A, the other is sensitive only to salicyl hydroxamic acid. Respiration can proceed through either pathway and both pathways together in this mutant account for greater than 90% of all mitochondrial respiration. The cni-1 mutation segregates as a nuclear gene in crosses to other strains of Neurospora. Absorption spectra of isolated mitochondria from cni-1 show typical b- and c-type cytochromes but the absorption peaks corresponding to cytochrome aa(3) are not detectable. Extraction of soluble cytochrome c-546 from these mitochondria followed by reduction with ascorbate reveals a new absorption peak at 426 nm that is not present in wild-type mitochondria. This peak may be due to an altered cytochrome oxidase with abnormal spectral properties. Mitochondria from cni-1 have elevated levels of succinate-cytochrome c reductase but reduced levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide reduced form cytochrome c reductase and of cyanide- and azide-sensitive cytochrome c oxidase. These studies suggest that the cni-1 mutation results in the abnormal assembly of cytochrome c oxidase so that the typical cytochrome aa(3) spectrum is lost and the enzyme activity is reduced. As a consequence of this alteration, a cyanide-insensitive respiratory pathway is elaborated by these mitochondria which may serve to stimulate adenosine 5'-triphosphate production via substrate level phosphorylation by glycolysis and the Krebs cycle.     

Cyanide action in plants — from toxic to regulatory

Recent biochemical and genetic studies on hydrogen cyanide (HCN) metabolism and function in plants were reviewed. The potential sources of endogenous cyanide and the pathways of its detoxification are outlined and the possible signaling routes by which cyanide exerts its physiological effects are discussed. Cyanide is produced in plant tissues as the result of hydrolysis of cyanogenic compounds and is also released as a co-product of ethylene biosynthesis. Most cyanide produced in plants is detoxified primarily by the key enzyme β-cyanoalanine synthase. The remaining HCN at non-toxic concentration may play a role of signaling molecule involved in the control of some metabolic processes in plants. So, HCN may play a dual role in plants, depending on its concentration. It may be used in defense against herbivores at high toxic concentration and may have a regulatory function at lower concentration. Special attention is given to the action of HCN during biotic and abiotic stresses, nitrate assimilation and seed germination. Intracellular signaling responses to HCN involve enhancement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and the expression of cyanide-insensitive alternative oxidase (AOX) and ACC synthase (ACS) genes. The biochemical and cellular mechanisms of these responses are, however, not completely understood.     

Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of high-spin iron(III) porphyrin compounds

1. There was no apparent correlation between the rate of respiration and rate of accumulation of proline in Candida albicans cells. 2. In contrast to normal cells, the respiration in the starved cells became completely cyanide insensitive. The starvation of cells in the presence of cycloheximide prevented the cells from becoming cyanide insensitive. The addition of Fe(III), however, accelerated the process. 3. Oxidizable substrates e.g. NADH, acetate and glucose, when added to cyanide-insensitive starved cells, exhibited 40--280% stimulation in respiration rate. However, this enhancement in oxidation by various substrates was not coupled to a simultaneous increase in the proline uptake or in intracellular ATP levels. 4. There was 6-fold stimulation in proline uptake when cyanide-insensitive cells were preincubated with 50 mM glucose. The preincubation of starved cells resulted in a partial restoration of cyanide sensitivity and increased intracellular ATP levels. The preincubation of starved cells with other oxidizable substrates resulted in a partial restoration of cyanide sensitivity but had no stimulatory effect on intracellular ATP levels and proline accumulation. 5. Both the enhanced uptake and ATP levels in glucose preincubated cells were found to be completely abolished by iodoacetate. 6. It is proposed that the increased proline uptake in cells preincubated with glucose was mainly due to the production of glycolytic energy.     

Dibromothymoquinone inhibition of the cyanide-sensitive and -insensitive respiration in MI-1 mutant of neurospora.

Effects of dibromothymoquinone (DBMIB) on the cyanide-sensitive and -insensitive pathways of respiration in mitochondria isolated from wild type and mi-1 mutant of Neurospora crassa have been investigated. It is shown that DBMIB inhibits the overall respiration in both strains in a similar manner. However, separate measurements of the DBMIB -induced inhibition of the KCN- and salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM)-sensitive oxidation pathways in mi-1 pointed to some differences in the pattern and the degree of inhibition of these particular pathways, as reflected by a difference in the DBMIB concentration required for half-maximal inhibition and by the finding that the KCN-sensitive pathway is resistant to low concentrations of DBMIB. These results are consistent with a regulatory function of ubiquinone (UQ) in the cyanide-insensitive pathway in addition to its known carrier function in the cyanide -sensitive pathway of oxidation.     

The respiratory chain of Paramecium tetraurelia in wild type and the mutant Cl1. II. Cyanide-insensitive respiration. Function and regulation.

1. The cyanide-insensitive respiration in Paramecium tetraurelia was found to be located in mitochondria. 2. Sensitivity of the mitochondrial respiration to cyanide depended on growth conditions. Under standard conditions of growth, 15--20% of respiration was insensitive to 1 mM cyanide. Full resistance to 1 mM cyanide was observed by growing cells in the presence of erythromycin (100--400 microgram/ml) 0.2 mM cyanide. The mitochondrial respiration of the mutant Cl1 harvested during the exponential phase of growth was largely insensitive to cyanide (more than 80%). 3. Pyruvate was oxidized at the same rate by wild type mitochondria and mitochondria of the mutant Cl1. In contrast, succinate oxidation was 2--3 times faster in mitochondria of the mutant Cl1 than in wild type mitochondria. 4. The cyanide-insensitive respiration was inhibited by 1 mM salicylhydroxamic acid to nearly 100%. Other efficient respiratory inhibitors included amytal and heptylhydroxyquinoline. Antimycin was not inhibitory even at concentrations as high as 5 microgram/mg protein, a finding consistent with the lack of antimycin binding sites.     

Malate Oxidation in Plant Mitochondria via Malic Enzyme and the Cyanide-insensitive Electron Transport Pathway

Malate oxidation in plant mitochondria proceeds through the activities of two enzymes: a malate dehydrogenase and a NAD⁺-dependent malic enzyme. In cauliflower, mitochondria malate oxidation via malate dehydrogenase is rotenone- and cyanide-sensitive. Addition of exogenous NAD⁺ stimulates the oxidation of malate via malic enzyme and generates an electron flux that is both rotenone- and cyanide-insensitive. The same effects of exogenous NAD⁺ are also observed with highly cyanide-sensitive mitochondria from white potato tubers or with mitochondria from spinach leaves. Both enzymes are located in the matrix, but some experimental data also suggest that part of malate dehydrogenase activity is also present outside the matrix compartment (adsorbed cytosolic malate dehydrogenase?). It is concluded that malic enzyme and a specific pool of NAD⁺/NADH are connected to the cyanide-insensitive alternative pathway by a specific rotenone-insensitive NADH dehydrogenase located on the inner face of the inner membrane. Similarly, malate dehydrogenase and another specific pool of NAD⁺/NADH are connected to the cyanide- (and antimycin-) sensitive pathway by a rotenone-sensitive NADH dehydrogenase located on the inner face of the inner membrane. A general scheme of electron transport in plant mitochondria for the oxidation of malate and NADH can be given, assuming that different pools of ubiquinone act as a branch point between various dehydrogenases, the cyanide-sensitive cytochrome pathway and the cyanide-insensitive alternative pathway.     

Cyanide-insensitive respiration in relation to growth of a low-temperature basidiomycete

The cyanogenic low-temperature basidiomycete (Coprinus psychromorbidus Redhead and Traquair), unlike other cyanide-tolerant fungi, does not detoxify cyanide via formamide hydro-lyase. Instead, tolerance apparently depends on cyanide-insensitive respiration involving activity of the mitochondrial alternative oxidase. Respiration and growth of young mycelium that lacks alternative oxidase activity are blocked both by cyanide and 1 mum antimycin. When activity of the alternative oxidase is elicited in young mycelium by 0.05 mm cyanide, subsequent treatment with antimycin stimulates respiration and fails to halt growth. Older mycelium becomes tolerant coincidentally with the release of cyanide by the mycelium. Tolerant older mycelium in medium containing 0.05 to 1.0 mum antimycin grows at 30 to 45% of the control rate. Cyanide- and antimycin-tolerant growth and respiration are blocked by salicyl hydroxamic acid, an inhibitor of the alternative oxidase, and by rotenone, which inhibits ATP synthesis at site I.