Antimycin-insensitive mutants of Candida utilis II. The effects of antimycin on Cytochrome b.

1. Cytochrome b-562 is more reduced in submitochondrial particles of mutant 28 during the aerobic steady-state respiration with succinate than in particles of the wild type. When anaerobiosis is reached, the reduction of cytochrome b is preceded by a rapid reoxidation in the mutnat. A similar reoxidation is observed in the wild type in the present of low concentrations of antimycin. 2. In contrast to the wild type, inhibition of electron transport in the mutant has a much higher antimycin titre than effects on cytochromes b (viz., aerobic steady-state reduction; reduction in the presence of substrate, cyanide and oxygen; the 'red shift' and lowering of E'-o of cytochrome b-562). Moreover, the titration curve of electron transport is hyperbolic whereas the curves for the reduction are sigmoidal. The conclusion is, that in both mutant and wild type, the actions of antimycin on electron transport and cytochromes b are separable. 3. The red shift in the mutant is more extensive than in the wild type. 4. Cytochrome b-558 and cytochrome b-566 (that absorbs in mutant and wild type at 564.5 nm) do not respond simultaneously to addition of antimycin, indicating that they are two separate cytochromes. 5. The difference between the effect of antimycin on electron transport and cytochromes b reduction is also found in intact cells of the mutant. 6. A model is suggested for the wild-type respiratory chain in which (i) the cytochromes b lie, in an uncoupled system, out of the main electron-transfer chain, (ii) antimycin induces a conformation change in QH-2-cytochrome c reductase resulting in effects on cytochrome b and inhibition of electron transport, (iii) a second antimycin-binding site with low affinity to the antibiotic is present, capable of inhibiting electron transport.     

Lipid peroxidation in purified plasma membrane fractions of rat liver in relation to the hepatoxicity of carbon tetrachloride

Preparations of rat liver sinusoidal plasma membrane have been tested for their ability to metabolize the hepatotoxin carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) to reactive free radicals in vitro and compared in this respect with standard preparations of rat liver microsomes. The sinusoidal plasma membranes were relatively free of endoplasmic reticulum-associated activities such as the enzymes of the cytochrome P450 system and glucose-6-phosphatase. CCl4 metabolism was measured as (i) covalent binding of [14C]-CCl4 to membrane protein, (ii) electron spin resonance spin-trapping of CCl3. radicals and (iii) CCl4-induced lipid peroxidation. By all of these tests, purified sinusoidal plasma membranes were found unable to metabolize CCl4. The fatty acid composition of the plasma membranes was almost identical to that of the microsomal preparation and both membrane fractions exhibited similar rates of the lipid peroxidation that was stimulated non-enzymically by gamma-radiation or incubation with ascorbate and iron. The absence of CCl4-induced lipid peroxidation in the plasma membranes seems to be due, therefore, to an absence of CCl4 activation rather than an inherent resistance to lipid peroxidation. We conclude that damage to the hepatocyte plasma membrane during CCl4 intoxication is not due to a significant local activation of CCl4 to CCl3. within that membrane.     

Microbial communities from Arctic marine sediments respond slowly to methane addition during ex situ enrichments

Anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) consume methane in marine sediments, limiting its release to the water column, but their responses to changes in methane and sulfate supplies remain poorly constrained. To address how methane exposure may affect microbial communities and methane- and sulfur-cycling gene abundances in Arctic marine sediments, we collected sediments from offshore Svalbard that represent geochemical horizons where anaerobic methanotrophy is expected to be active, previously active, and long-inactive based on reaction-transport biogeochemical modelling of porewater sulfate profiles. Sediment slurries were incubated at in situ temperature and pressure with different added methane concentrations. Sediments from an active area of seepage began to reduce sulfate in a methane-dependent manner within months, preceding increased relative abundances of anaerobic methanotrophs ANME-1 within communities. In previously active and long-inactive sediments, sulfur-cycling Deltaproteobacteria became more dominant after 30 days, though these communities showed no evidence of methanotrophy after nearly 8 months of enrichment. Overall, enrichment conditions, but not methane, broadly altered microbial community structure across different enrichment times and sediment types. These results suggest that active ANME populations may require years to develop, and consequently microbial community composition may affect methanotrophic responses to potential large-scale seafloor methane releases in ways that provide insight for future modelling studies.