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. 2004 Apr 15;379(Pt 2):309–315. doi: 10.1042/BJ20031682

Ubiquinone is not required for proton conductance by uncoupling protein 1 in yeast mitochondria.

Telma C Esteves 1, Karim S Echtay 1, Tanya Jonassen 1, Catherine F Clarke 1, Martin D Brand 1
PMCID: PMC1224067  PMID: 14680474

Abstract

Q (coenzyme Q or ubiquinone) is reported to be a cofactor obligatory for proton transport by UCPs (uncoupling proteins) in liposomes [Echtay, Winkler and Klingenberg (2000) Nature (London) 408, 609-613] and for increasing the binding of the activator retinoic acid to UCP1 [Tomás, Ledesma and Rial (2002) FEBS Lett. 526, 63-65]. In the present study, yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) mutant strains lacking Q and expressing UCP1 were used to determine whether Q was required for UCP function in mitochondria. Wild-type yeast strain and two mutant strains (CENDeltaCOQ3 and CENDeltaCOQ2), both not capable of synthesizing Q, were transformed with the mouse UCP1 gene. UCP1 activity was measured as fatty acid-dependent, GDP-sensitive proton conductance in mitochondria isolated from the cells. The activity of UCP1 was similar in both Q-containing and -deficient yeast mitochondria. We conclude that Q is neither an obligatory cofactor nor an activator of proton transport by UCP1 when it is expressed in yeast mitochondria.

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Selected References

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