Subunits of Mitochondrial Complex I Exist as Part of Matrix- and Membrane-associated Subcomplexes in Living Cells*S⃞

Mitochondrial complex I (CI) is a large assembly of 45 different subunits, and defects in its biogenesis are the most frequent cause of mitochondrial disorders. In vitro evidence suggests a stepwise assembly process involving pre-assembled modules. However, whether these modules also exist in vivo is as yet unresolved. To answer this question, we here applied submitochondrial fluorescence recovery after photobleaching to HEK293 cells expressing 6 GFP-tagged subunits selected on the basis of current CI assembly models. We established that each subunit was partially present in a virtually immobile fraction, possibly representing the holo-enzyme. Four subunits (NDUFV1, NDUFV2, NDUFA2, and NDUFA12) were also present as highly mobile matrix-soluble monomers, whereas, in sharp contrast, the other two subunits (NDUFB6 and NDUFS3) were additionally present in a slowly mobile fraction. In the case of the integral membrane protein NDUFB6, this fraction most likely represented one or more membrane-bound subassemblies, whereas biochemical evidence suggested that for the NDUFS3 protein this fraction most probably corresponded to a matrix-soluble subassembly. Our results provide first time evidence for the existence of CI subassemblies in mitochondria of living cells

Superoxide production is inversely related to complex I activity in inherited complex I deficiency.

Contains fulltext : 53008.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Deficiency of NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase or complex I (CI) is the most common cause of disorders of the oxidative phosphorylation system in humans. Using life cell imaging and blue-native electrophoresis we quantitatively compared superoxide production and CI amount and activity in cultured skin fibroblasts of 7 healthy control subjects and 21 children with inherited isolated CI deficiency. Thirteen children had a disease causing mutation in one of the nuclear-encoded CI subunits, whereas in the remainder the genetic cause of the disease is not yet established. Superoxide production was significantly increased in all but two of the patient cell lines. An inverse relationship with the amount and residual activity of CI was observed. In agreement with this finding, rotenone, a potent inhibitor of CI activity, dose-dependently increased superoxide production in healthy control cells. Also in this case an inverse relationship with the residual activity of CI was observed. In sharp contrast, however, rotenone did not decrease the amount of CI. The data presented show that superoxide production is increased in inherited CI deficiency and that this increase is primarily a consequence of the reduction in cellular CI activity and not of a further leakage of electrons from mutationally malformed complexes