Novel isolation and reconstitution of the iron-sulfur protein of mitochondrial Complex III

An iron-sulfur protein was isolated from mitochondrial Complex III as a single band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis by hydrophobic interaction chromatography, in which the complex was dissociated into the iron-sulfur protein and the rest of the complex with a loss of enzymic activity. The critical condition for the dissociation was depletion of boundary phospholipids to 0.6% (w/w). After gel filtration of the isolated iron-sulfur protein, 76 ng atom of non-heme iron and 66 nmol of acid-labile sulfide were found per mg of the protein. By incubating the protein with the iron-sulfur protein depleted-complex in the presence of a soybean phospholipid mixture, the enzymic activity was fully recovered. The electrophoretic pattern of the reconstituted complex showed a polypeptide composition similar to that of the original Complex III. These results indicate that the iron-sulfur protein is attached in the complex with the aid of boundary phospholipids.     

Purification of the iron-sulfur protein, ubiquinone-binding protein, and cytochrome c1 from a single source of mitochondrial complex III

By detergent-exchange chromatography using a phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B column, Complex III of the respiratory chain of beef heart mitochondria was efficiently resolved into five fractions that were rich in the iron-sulfur protein, ubiquinone-binding protein, core proteins, cytochrome c1, and cytochrome b, respectively. Complex III was initially bound to the phenyl-Sepharose column equilibrated with buffer containing 0.25% deoxycholate and 0.2 M NaCl. An iron-sulfur protein fraction was first eluted from the column with buffer containing 1% deoxycholate and no salt after removal of phospholipids from the complex by washing with the buffer for the column equilibration, as reported previously (Y. Shimomura, M. Nishikimi, and T. Ozawa, 1984, J. Biol. Chem. 259, 14059-14063). Subsequently, a fraction containing the ubiquinone-binding protein and another containing two core proteins were eluted with buffers containing 1.5 and 3 M guanidine, respectively. A fraction containing cytochrome c1 was then eluted with buffer containing 1% dodecyl octaethylene glycol monoether. Finally, a cytochrome b-rich fraction was eluted with buffer containing 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate. The fractions of the iron-sulfur protein and ubiquinone-binding protein were further purified by gel chromatography on a Sephacryl S-200 superfine column, and the cytochrome c1 fraction was further purified by ion-exchange chromatography on a DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B column; each of the three purified proteins was homogeneous as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.     

Immunochemical demonstration of the iron-sulfur protein in Complex III of mitochondrial electron-transfer chain

An iron-sulfur protein of Complex III was purified by phenyl-Sepharose column chromatography and DEAE-Sepharose column chromatography. The purified preparation was homogeneous as demonstrated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, and a specific antibody directed against this protein was raised in a rabbit. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by electrophoretic blotting and immunoperoxidase reaction indicated that Complex III possesses a single polypeptide which reacts with the antibody. It was also found that the iron-sulfur center-containing subunits identified so far in Complex I did not cross-react with the antibody, indicating that they are antigenically unrelated to the iron-sulfur protein of Complex III.     

Interaction of anti-iron-sulfur protein and anti-ubiquinone binding protein antibodies with complex III of beef heart mitochondria

Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase activity of Complex III was substantially inhibited by anti-iron-sulfur protein antibody, whereas it was not affected by anti-ubiquinone binding protein antibody. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay indicated that anti-ubiquinone binding protein antibody do not bind to the complex, but that it binds to Complex III of which iron-sulfur protein and phospholipids have been depleted. These results indicate that some of the antigenic sites of the iron-sulfur protein are located on the surface of Complex III, while the antigenic sites of the ubiquinone binding protein are inaccessible to antibody owing to the interaction with iron-sulfur protein and/or phospholipids in the complex.     

Integral polypeptide composition of Complex III of the mitochondrial electron-transfer chain

Phospholipids in isolated Complex III of the mitochondrial electron-transfer chain were depleted by hydrophobic chromatography. The complex was further purified by affinity chromatography. The polypeptide composition of the complex was examined using SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Ten polypeptides were demonstrated in the gel pattern of the complex containing more than 10% (w/w) phospholipids; and 9 polypeptides, in the pattern of the complex containing 5% phospholipids. Although the enzymic activity of the complex composed of the 9 polypeptides was about a half of that of the original enzyme, it was fully restored when soybean phospholipid mixture was added. Further depletion of phospholipids to 0.6% makes the iron-sulfur protein dissociable from the complex, resulting in a loss of the enzymic activity (Shimomura, Y. and Ozawa, T. (1982) Biochem. Int. 5, 1-6). These results suggest that Complex III consists of 9 polypeptides, and the smallest polypeptide is a contaminant embedded in phospholipids with respect to the electron-transfer capability of the complex.     

On the interaction of mitochondrial complex III with the Rieske iron-sulfur protein (subunit V).

Limited proteolysis of solubilized beef heart mitochondrial complex III with trypsin yields a product previously identified as fragment V" (González-Halphen, D., Lindorfer, M. A., and Capaldi, R. A. (1988) Biochemistry 27, 7021-7031). In this work, fragment V" was generated by trypsin treatment of both the intact complex III and the purified Rieske iron-sulfur protein. Thus, in its bound or isolated form, the same sites of subunit V are sensitive to protease action. Fragment V" was a soluble protein that retained its iron-sulfur moiety. It was purified by exclusion from a hydrophobic phenyl-Sepharose CL-4B column followed by gel filtration. In contrast to the pure, intact subunit V, fragment V" did not reconstitute oxidoreductase activity when combined with complex III devoid of subunit V. However, a 20-amino acid synthetic peptide carrying the sequence between amino acids Lys33 and Lys52 of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein competed with intact subunit V in reconstitution assays. The results obtained suggest that the iron-sulfur protein binds to complex III by hydrophobic protein-protein interactions, and that a nontransmembrane 18-amino acid amphipathic stretch accounts for the association of this subunit to the rest of the complex.     

Kinetics of assembly of complex III into the yeast mitochondrial membrane. Evidence for a precursor to the iron-sulfur protein

Complex III immunoprecipitated from yeast cells labeled in vivo with [35S]sulfate or [3H]leucine contained seven subunits with molecular weights ranging from 15,000 to 47,000 when analyzed by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels. The subunit composition of the immunoprecipitates was identical with that of the purified complex III isolated from bakers' yeast suggesting that the antiserum recognizes the holoenzyme assembled properly in the membrane (Sidhu, A., and Beattie, D.S. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 7879-7886). Kinetic studies using double-labeled yeast cells followed by immunoprecipitation of complex III indicated that the subunits of the complex are assembled into the holoenzyme at very different rates. Cytochromes b and c1 and the 15,000-dalton subunit were the first polypeptides to be assembled into the complex with a half-time of labeling of 2.0-2.4 min. Core protein I and the iron-sulfur protein were inserted more slowly into the complex with a half-time of labeling of 4.6 and 5.3 min, respectively. Calculations of precursor pool sizes of the subunits indicated that for both core protein I and the iron-sulfur protein, there are large pools of precursors. The iron-sulfur protein was synthesized in vivo as a larger precursor polypeptide of molecular mass 28,000 Da. The precursor was subsequently cleaved, in a process requiring an energized mitochondrial inner membrane, into an intermediate form 1,500 Da larger than the mature subunit. The conversion of the intermediate to the mature form occurred in the inner mitochondrial membrane.     

The presence of the iron-sulfur protein (subunit V) of complex III in mitochondria of heme-deficient yeast cells lacking iron-sulfur clusters detectable by electron paramagnetic resonance

The presence of subunit V, the iron-sulfur protein, of complex III has been demonstrated in mitochondria from a mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae which lacks 5-aminolevulinic acid synthase and, hence, is devoid of heme. The mature form (24 K Da) of the iron-sulfur protein was observed in equal amounts in the heme-deficient and heme-sufficient cells with antiserum against subunit V and either the sensitive immuno-transfer technique or immunoprecipitation from dodecylsulfate-solubilized mitochondria. In addition, a slight shoulder with a molecular mass 1.5 kDa larger than the mature form was present in mitochondria from the heme-deficient cells. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed the absence of iron-sulfur signals due to clusters S-1, S-2 and S-3 of succinate dehydrogenase or to Rieske's iron-sulfur cluster of complex III in mitochondria from the heme-deficient cells. The lack of iron-sulfur centers in these cells may be a consequence of the absence of sulfite reductase in the cells without heme.     

Assembly of the iron-sulfur protein into the cytochrome b-c1, complex of yeast mitochondria.

The assembly of the iron-sulfur protein into the cytochrome bc1 complex after import and processing of the precursor form into mitochondria in vitro was investigated by immunoprecipitation of the radiolabeled iron-sulfur protein from detergent-solubilized mitochondria with specific antisera. After import in vitro, the labeled mature form of the iron-sulfur protein was immunoprecipitated by antisera against both the iron-sulfur protein and the entire bc1 complex from mitochondria solubilized with either Triton X-100 or dodecyl maltoside. After sodium dodecyl sulfate solubilization of mitochondria, however, the antiserum against the iron-sulfur protein, but not that against the bc1 complex, immunoprecipitated the radiolabeled iron-sulfur protein. These results suggest that in mitochondria the mature form of the iron-sulfur protein is assembled with other subunits of the bc1 complex that are recognized by the antiserum against the bc1 complex. By contrast, the intermediate and precursor forms of the iron-sulfur protein that accumulated in the matrix when proteolytic processing was blocked with EDTA and o-phenanthroline were not efficiently assembled into the bc1 complex. The import and processing of the iron-sulfur protein also occurred in mitochondria lacking either cytochrome b (W-267) or the iron-sulfur protein (JPJ1). The mature form of the iron-sulfur protein was immunoprecipitated by antisera against the bc1 complex or core protein I after import in vitro into these mitochondria, suggesting that the mature form is associated with other subunits of the bc1 complex in these strains.     

Intermediate length Rieske iron-sulfur protein is present and functionally active in the cytochrome bc1 complex of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

To investigate the relationship between post-translational processing of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its assembly into the mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex we used iron-sulfur proteins in which the presequences had been changed by site-directed mutagenesis of the cloned iron-sulfur protein gene, so that the recognition sites for the matrix processing peptidase or the mitochondrial intermediate peptidase (MIP) had been destroyed. When yeast strain JPJ1, in which the gene for the iron-sulfur protein is deleted, was transformed with these constructs on a single copy expression vector, mitochondrial membranes and bc1 complexes isolated from these strains accumulated intermediate length iron-sulfur proteins in vivo. The cytochrome bc1 complex activities of these membranes and bc1 complexes indicate that intermediate iron-sulfur protein (i-ISP) has full activity when compared with that of mature sized iron-sulfur protein (m-ISP). Therefore the iron-sulfur cluster must have been inserted before processing of i-ISP to m-ISP by MIP. When iron-sulfur protein is imported into mitochondria in vitro, i-ISP interacts with components of the bc1 complex before it is processed to m-ISP. These results establish that the iron-sulfur cluster is inserted into the apoprotein before MIP cleaves off the second part of the presequence and that this second processing step takes place after i-ISP has been assembled into the bc1 complex.     

Low temperature electron paramagnetic resonance studies on iron-sulfur centers in cardiac NADH dehydrogenase

EPR signals arising from at least seven iron-sulfur centers were resolved in both reconstitutively active and inactive NADH dehydrogenases, as well as in particulate NADH-UQ reductase (Complex I). EPR lineshapes of individual iron-sulfur centers in the active dehydrogenase are almost unchanged from that in Complex I. Iron-sulfur centers in the inactive dehydrogenase give broadened EPR spectra, suggesting that modification of iron-sulfur active centers is associated with loss of the reconstitutive activity of the dehydrogenase. With the reconstitutively active dehydrogenase, the E_m8.0 value of Center N-2 (iron-sulfur centers associated with NADH dehydrogenase are designated with prefix N) was shifted to a more negative value than in Complex I and restored to the original value on reconstitution of the enzyme with purified phospholipids.     

Dephosphorylation of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein after induction of the mitochondrial permeability transition

In the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT), MPT pores open to cause the mitochondrial inner membrane to become non-selectively permeable to molecules of mass up to 1500 Da. In this study, we used proteomics to investigate protein changes after MPT induction. Isolated rat liver mitochondria were incubated with various MPT inducers, including CaCl2, tert-butylhydroperoxide, and phenylarsine oxide, in the presence and absence of the MPT inhibitor, cyclosporin A. MPT induction was confirmed by an absorbance swelling assay. Mitochondrial membrane proteins prepared from control and treated mitochondria were separated by two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and stained with SyproRuby or Coomassie blue. Proteins of interest were further identified by mass spectrometry. 2D gel electrophoresis by isoelectric focusing and SDS-PAGE consistently showed a protein spot that shifted to a more basic isoelectric point after the MPT. This shift was prevented by CsA but did not occur after protonophoric uncoupling. Mass spectrometry identified this protein as the Rieske iron-sulfur protein (RISP) of ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (Complex III). Phosphatase treatment of sonicated mitochondria caused the same shift in RISP as occurred in MPT inducer-treated mitochondria. 2D gel electrophoresis by blue-native-PAGE and SDS-PAGE showed that RISP existed as an apparent monomer in mitochondrial membranes in addition to forming a complex with ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase. These findings suggest that RISP may be part of MPT pores and that dephosphorylation of RISP may play a role in regulation of the MPT.     

Primary role of mitochondrial Rieske iron-sulfur protein in hypoxic ROS production in pulmonary artery myocytes

This study was designed to determine whether: (1) hypoxia could directly affect ROS production in isolated mitochondria and mitochondrial complex III from pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) and (2) Rieske iron-sulfur protein in complex III might mediate hypoxic ROS production, leading to hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV). Our data, for the first time, demonstrate that hypoxia significantly enhances ROS production, measured by the standard ROS indicator dichlorodihydrofluorescein/diacetate, in isolated mitochondria from PASMCs. Studies using the newly developed, specific ROS biosensor pHyPer have found that hypoxia increases mitochondrial ROS generation in isolated PASMCs as well. Hypoxic ROS production has also been observed in isolated complex III. Rieske iron-sulfur protein silencing using siRNA abolishes the hypoxic ROS formation in isolated PASM complex III, mitochondria, and cells, whereas Rieske iron-sulfur protein overexpression produces the opposite effect. Rieske iron-sulfur protein silencing inhibits the hypoxic increase in [Ca(2+)](i) in PASMCs and hypoxic vasoconstriction in isolated PAs. These findings together provide novel evidence that mitochondria are the direct hypoxic targets in PASMCs, in which Rieske iron-sulfur protein in complex III may serve as an essential, primary molecule that mediates the hypoxic ROS generation, leading to an increase in intracellular Ca(2+) in PASMCs and HPV.     

The iron-sulfur protein is necessary for the complete assembly of the low-molecular-weight subunits into the cytochrome b-c1 complex of yeast mitochondria

A strain of yeast lacking the gene for the Rieske iron-sulfur protein (RIP) of the cytochrome b-c1 complex was used to study the assembly of this complex in the mitochondrial membrane. This strain lacks the mRNA for the iron-sulfur protein as evidenced by both Northern hybridization using a probe containing the coding region of the gene plus in vitro translation of total RNA followed by immunoprecipitation with a specific antibody against the iron-sulfur protein. In addition, isolated mitochondria from this strain lacked cytochrome c reductase activity with either succinate or the decyl analog of ubiquinol as substrate. Immunoblotting studies with antiserum against the cytochrome b-c1 complex revealed that mitochondria from the iron-sulfur protein-deficient strain have levels of core protein I, core protein II, and cytochrome c1 equal to those of wild-type mitochondria; however, a decrease in cytochrome b was evident from both immunoblotting and spectral analysis. Moreover, it is evident from the immunoprecipitates of radiolabeled mitochondria that the amounts of the low-molecular-weight subunits (17, 14, and 11 kDa) are decreased 53, 65, and 50%, respectively, in mitochondria lacking the iron-sulfur protein. These results suggest that the iron-sulfur protein is required for the complete assembly of the low-molecular-weight subunits into the cytochrome b-c1 complex.     

Mutational analysis of the mitochondrial Rieske iron-sulfur protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. III. Import, protease processing, and assembly into the cytochrome bc1 complex of iron-sulfur protein lacking the iron-sulfur cluster.

We have used site-directed mutagenesis of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rieske iron-sulfur protein gene (RIP 1) to convert cysteines 159, 164, 178, and 180 to serines, and to convert histidines 161 and 181 to arginines. These 4 cysteines and 2 histidines are conserved in all Rieske proteins sequenced to date, and 4 of these 6 residues are thought to ligate the iron-sulfur cluster to the apoprotein. We have also converted histidine 184 to arginine. This histidine is conserved only in respiring organisms. The site-directed mutations of the six fully conserved putative iron-sulfur cluster ligands result in an inactive iron-sulfur protein, lacking iron-sulfur cluster, and failure of the yeast to grow on nonfermentable carbon sources. In contrast, when histidine 184 is replaced by arginine, the iron-sulfur cluster is assembled properly and the yeast grow on nonfermentable carbon sources. The site-directed mutations of the 6 fully conserved residues do not prevent post-translational import of iron-sulfur protein precursor into mitochondria, nor do the mutations prevent processing of iron-sulfur protein precursor to mature size protein by mitochondrial proteases. Optical spectra of mitochondria from the six mutants indicate that cytochrome b is normal, in contrast to the deranged spectrum of cytochrome b which results when the iron-sulfur protein gene is deleted. In addition, mature size iron-sulfur apoprotein is associated with cytochrome bc1 complex purified from a site-directed mutant in which iron-sulfur cluster is not inserted. These results indicate that mature size iron-sulfur apoprotein, lacking iron-sulfur cluster, is inserted into the cytochrome bc1 complex, where it interacts with and preserves the optical properties of cytochrome b. Insertion of the iron-sulfur cluster is not an obligatory prerequisite to processing of the protein to its final size. Either the processing protease cannot distinguish between iron-sulfur protein with or without the iron-sulfur cluster, or insertion of the iron-sulfur cluster occurs after the protein is processed to its mature size, possibly after it is assembled in the cytochrome bc1 complex.     

An ubiquinone-binding protein in mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone reductase (Complex I)

An ubiquinone-binding protein (QP) was purified from mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone reductase (Complex I). Complex I was separated into 3 fragments: a fraction of hydrophobic proteins, that of soluble iron-sulfur protein (IP) and soluble NADH dehydrogenase of flavoprotein by a procedure involving the resolution with DOC and cholate, followed by ethanol and ammonium acetate fractionations. About 40% of the total ubiquinone was recovered in the IP fragment which consisted of 12 polypeptides. The QP was purified from the IP fragment with a hydrophobic affinity chromatography. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the purified QP corresponded to 14-kDa polypeptide of the IP fragment and was a different protein from the QP (12.4 kDa) in Complex III. The purified QP (14 kDa) contained one mol ubiquinone per mol. The ubiquinone-depleted IP fragment could rebind ubiquinone. These results indicate that an ubiquinone-binding site in Complex I is on the 14-kDa polypeptide of the IP fragment.     

Purification of a reconstitutively active iron-sulfur protein (oxidation factor) from succinate . cytochrome c reductase complex of bovine heart mitochondria.

Oxidation factor, a protein required for electron transfer from succinate to cytochrome c in the mitochondrial respiratory chain, has been purified from isolated succinate . cytochrome c reductase complex. Purification of the protein has been followed by a reconstitution assay in which restoration of ubiquinol . cytochrome c reductase activity is proportional to the amount of oxidation factor added back to depleted reductase complex. The purified protein is a homogeneous polypeptide on acrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate and migrates with an apparent Mr = 24,500. Purified oxidation factor restores succinate . cytochrome c reductase and ubiquinol . cytochrome c reductase activities to depleted reductase complex. It is not required for succinate dehydrogenase nor for succinate . ubiquinone reductase activities of the reconstituted reductase complex. Oxidation factor co-electrophoreses with the iron-sulfur protein polypeptide of ubiquinol . cytochrome c reductase complex. The purified protein contains 56 nmol of nonheme iron and 36 nmol of acid-labile sulfide/mg of protein and possesses an EPR spectrum with the characteristic "g = 1.90" signal identical to that of the iron-sulfur protein of the cytochrome b . c1 complex. In addition, the optimal conditions for extraction of oxidation factor, including reduction with hydrosulfite and treatment of the b . c1 complex with antimycin, are identical to those which facilitate extraction of the iron-sulfur protein from the b . c1 complex. These results indicate that oxidation factor is a reconstitutively active form of the iron-sulfur protein of the cytochrome b . c1 complex first discovered by Rieske and co-workers (Rieske, J.S., Maclennan, D.H., and Coleman, R. (1964) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 15, 338-344) and thus demonstrate that this iron-sulfur protein is required for electron transfer from ubiquinol to cytochrome c in the mitochondrial respiratory chain.     

Identification of a g equals 1.90 high-potential iron-sulfur protein in chloroplasts.

A new bound iron-sulfur protein has been identified in spinach chloroplasts. In the reduced form, this protein has an electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum at 20°K with g-values of 2.02 and 1.90. The midpoint oxidation-reduction potential (E_m) of the protein, which is pH-independent, is +290 mV. These properties are similar to those of the “Rieske” g = 1.90 iron-sulfur protein of mitochondrial Complex III.     

The iron-sulfur cluster of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein functions as a proton-exiting gate in the cytochrome bc(1) complex

The destruction of the Rieske iron-sulfur cluster ([2Fe-2S]) in the bc(1) complex by hematoporphyrin-promoted photoinactivation resulted in the complex becoming proton-permeable. To study further the role of this [2Fe-2S] cluster in proton translocation of the bc(1) complex, Rhodobacter sphaeroides mutants expressing His-tagged cytochrome bc(1) complexes with mutations at the histidine ligands of the [2Fe-2S] cluster were generated and characterized. These mutants lacked the [2Fe-2S] cluster and possessed no bc(1) activity. When the mutant complex was co-inlaid in phospholipid vesicles with intact bovine mitochondrial bc(1) complex or cytochrome c oxidase, the proton ejection, normally observed in intact reductase or oxidase vesicles during the oxidation of their corresponding substrates, disappeared. This indicated the creation of a proton-leaking channel in the mutant complex, whose [2Fe-2S] cluster was lacking. Insertion of the bc(1) complex lacking the head domain of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein, removed by thermolysin digestion, into PL vesicles together with mitochondrial bc(1) complex also rendered the vesicles proton-permeable. Addition of the excess purified head domain of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein partially restored the proton-pumping activity. These results indicated that elimination of the [2Fe-2S] cluster in mutant bc(1) complexes opened up an otherwise closed proton channel within the bc(1) complex. It was speculated that in the normal catalytic cycle of the bc(1) complex, the [2Fe-2S] cluster may function as a proton-exiting gate.     

Cytochrome b is necessary for the effective processing of core protein I and the iron-sulfur protein of complex III in the mitochondria

The effect of cytochrome b on the assembly of the subunits of complex III into the inner mitochondrial membrane has been studied in a mutant of yeast (W-267, Box 6-2) that lacks a spectrally detectable cytochrome b and synthesizes a shortened form of apocytochrome b. We recently reported that several cytochrome b-deficient mutants contained significantly diminished amounts of core proteins I and II as well as the iron-sulfur protein, but contained equal amounts of cytochrome c1 compared to the wild type (K. Sen and D. S. Beattie, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 242, 393-401, 1985). In the present study, the time course of processing of precursors of both core protein I and the iron-sulfur protein which had accumulated in cells treated with the uncoupler carbonyl m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP) was noted to be significantly lower in the mutant compared to the wild type. The amounts of the mature forms of these proteins in mitochondria pulse labeled under different conditions was also considerably decreased at all times studied. The synthesis of both proteins appeared to be unaffected in the mutant, as the precursor forms of both proteins accumulated to the same extent when processing in vivo was blocked by CCCP. Furthermore, translation of RNA in a reticulocyte lysate in vitro indicated that the messenger RNAs for both proteins were present in the mutant and translated with equal efficiency. The import into isolated mitochondria of the precursor forms of the iron-sulfur protein synthesized in the cell-free system was also decreased in the mutant mitochondria. In addition, the precursor form was bound to the exterior of the mitochondrial membrane where it was sensitive to digestion with proteases. By contrast, the synthesis and processing of cytochrome c1 appeared to be unaffected in these mutants. These results suggest that cytochrome b is necessary for the proper processing and assembly of both core protein I and the iron-sulfur protein, but not for cytochrome c1, into complex III of the inner mitochondrial membrane.