Coupling factors--an overview

Recent advances in structure-functional studies of mitochondrial factor B

Since the early studies on the resolution and reconstitution of the oxidative phosphorylation system from animal mitochondria, coupling factor B was recognized as an essential component of the machinery responsible for energy-driven ATP synthesis. At the phenomenological level, factor B was agreed to lie at the interface of energy transfer between the respiratory chain and the ATP synthase complex. However, biochemical characterization of the factor B polypeptide has proved difficult. It was not until 1990 that the N-terminal amino acid sequence of bovine mitochondrial factor B was reported, which followed, a decade later, by the report describing the amino acid sequence of full-length human factor B and its functional characterization. The present review summarizes the recent advances in structure-functional studies of factor B, including its recently determined crystal structure at 0.96 A resolution. Ectopic expression of human factor B in cultured animal cells has unexpectedly revealed its role in shaping mitochondrial morphology. The supramolecular assembly of ATP synthase as dimer ribbons at highly curved apices of the mitochondrial cristae was recently suggested to optimize ATP synthesis under proton-limited conditions. We propose that the binding of the ATP synthase dimers with factor B tetramers could be a means to enhance the efficiency of the terminal step of oxidative phosphorylation in animal mitochondria.

The proximal N-terminal amino acid residues are required for the coupling activity of the bovine heart mitochondrial factor B

Treatment of the recombinant bovine factor B with trypsin yielded a fragment (amino acid residues 62-175) devoid of coupling activity. Removal of the N-terminal Trp2-Gly3-Trp4 peptide resulted in a significant loss of coupling activity in the FB(DeltaW)(2)(-W)(4) deletion mutant. Sucrose density gradient centrifugation demonstrated co-sedimentation of recombinant factor B with the ADP/ATP carrier, which is present in preparations of H(+)-translocating F(0)F(1)-ATPase, but not in preparations of complex V. The N-terminally truncated factor B mutant FB(DeltaW)(2)(-W)(4) did not co-sediment with the ADP/ATP carrier. Recombinant factor B co-sedimented with partially purified membrane sector F(0), extracted from F(1)-stripped bovine submitochondrial particles with n-dodecyl-beta-d-maltoside. Factor B inhibited the passive proton conductance catalyzed by F(0) reconstituted into asolectin liposomes. A factor B mutant, bearing a photoreactive unnatural amino acid pbenzoyl-l-phenylalanine (pBpa) substituted for Trp2, cross-linked with F(0) subunits e and g as well as the ADP/ATP carrier. These results suggest that the N-terminal domain and, in particular, the proximal N-terminal amino acids are important for the coupling activity and protein-protein interactions of bovine factor B.

Amino acid sequence of bovine heart coupling factor 6

The amino acid sequence of bovine heart mitochondrial coupling factor 6 (F6) has been determined by automated Edman degradation of the whole protein and derived peptides. Preparations based on heat precipitation and ethanol extraction showed allotypic variation at three positions while material further purified by HPLC yielded only one sequence that also differed by a Phe-Thr replacement at residue 62. The mature protein contains 76 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 9006 and a pI of approximately equal to 5, in good agreement with experimentally measured values. The charged amino acids are mainly clustered at the termini and in one section in the middle; these three polar segments are separated by two segments relatively rich in nonpolar residues. Chou-Fasman analysis suggests three stretches of alpha-helix coinciding (or within) the high-charge-density sequences with a single beta-turn at the first polar-nonpolar junction. Comparison of the F6 sequence with those of other proteins did not reveal any homologous structures.