The effects of copper depletion on structural aspects of cytochrome c oxidase

Chronic treatment with azide in situ leads to an irreversible loss of cytochrome c oxidase activity via holoenzyme dissociation

Chronic treatment of cultured cells with very low levels of azide (I(50)<10 microm) leads to slow (t(12) = 6 h), irreversible loss of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity. Azide-mediated COX losses were not accompanied by inhibition of other mitochondrial enzymes and were not dependent upon electron flux through oxidative phosphorylation. Although azide treatment also reduced activity (but not content) of both CuZn superoxide dismutase and catalase, a spectrum of pro-oxidants (and anti-oxidants) failed to mimic (or prevent) azide effects, arguing that losses in COX activity were not due to resultant compromises in free radical scavenging. Loss of COX activity was not attributable to reduced rates of mitochondrial protein synthesis or declines in either COX subunit mRNA or protein levels (COX I, II, IV). Co-incubation experiments using copper (CuCl(2), Cu-His) and copper chelators (neocuproine, bathocuproine) indicated that azide effects were not mediated by interactions with either Cu(A) or Cu(B). In contrast, difference spectroscopy and high performance liquid chromatography analyses demonstrated azide-induced losses in cytochrome aa(3) content although not to the same extent as catalytic activity. Differential azide effects on COX content relative to COX activity were confirmed using a refined inhibition time course in combination with blue native electrophoresis, and established that holoenzyme dissociation occurs subsequent to losses in catalytic activity. Collectively, these data suggest that COX deficiency can arise through enhanced holoenzyme dissociation, possibly through interactions with the structure or coordination of its heme moieties.

Infrared and EPR studies on cyanide binding to the heme-copper binuclear center of cytochrome bo-type ubiquinol oxidase from Escherichia coli. Release of a CuB-cyano complex in the partially reduced state

Cyanide-binding to the heme-copper binuclear center of bo-type ubiquinol oxidase from Escherichia coli was investigated with Fourier transform-infrared and EPR spectroscopies. Upon treatment of the air-oxidized CN-inhibited enzyme with excess sodium dithionite, a 12C-14N stretching vibration at 2146 cm-1 characteristic of the FeO3+ C=N CuB2+ bridging structure was quickly replaced with another stretching mode at 2034.5 cm-1 derived from the FeO2+ C=N moiety. The presence of ubiquinone-8 or ubiquinone-1 caused a gradual autoreduction of the metal center(s) of the air-oxidized CN-inhibited enzyme and a concomitant appearance of a strong cyanide stretching band at 2169 cm-1. This 2169 cm-1 species could not be retained with a membrane filter (molecular weight cutoff = 10,000) and showed unusual cyanide isotope shifts and a D2O shift. These observations together with metal content analyses indicate that the 2169 cm-1 band is due to a CuB.CN complex released from the enzyme. The same species could be produced by anaerobic partial reduction of the CN-inhibited ubiquinol oxidase and, furthermore, of the CN-inhibited cytochrome c oxidase; but not at all from the fully reduced CN-inhibited enzymes. These findings suggest that there is a common intermediate structure at the binuclear center of heme-copper respiratory enzymes in the partially reduced state from which the CuB center can be easily released upon cyanide-binding.

Biochemical, metabolic, and clinical role of copper in human nutrition

Veterinary nutritional science has embraced the study of copper for decades, but copper has languished as an orphan among human nutritionists because of the obscurity of clinical copper-deficiency states in man. As medical investigators, we may have gone down a long road, missing the forest for the trees. Indeed, overt copper-deficiency syndromes in humans have been recognized since the 1960s, and the list of contributing factors is expanding. Unwise self-medication with megadoses of zinc, for instance, might produce a mini-epidemic of copper deficiency. Moreover, induced copper deficiency may someday prove to be a legitimate therapeutic intervention in some disease states. But, the influence of subtle differences in dietary intakes of copper on human health may be much more important than frank copper depletion. Moreover, the recognition of disordered copper metabolism simulating a deficiency state--as occurs in Menkes' KHS and in variant Elhers-Danlos syndrome--has important implications. The full description of the relationship that thionein and other intracellular proteins might have in the etiology of these alterations has yet to be written. The elegance of the interplay of biochemical defects, physiological dysfunction, and clinical manifestations in copper metabolism is virtually unmatched in nutritional biology; yet, our present abilities to determine human copper status are limited. Now that it is clear that intracellular redistribution as well as total-body depletion can effect the disruption of copper-dependent functions, a concerted effort to improve status assessment through the use of functional indices should become a high priority. Finally, the pursuit of the bases of copper's involvement in host defenses, antiotoxidant protection and carbohydrate metabolism--functions in which clear links to established mammalian cuproenzyme are at present elusive--should provide exciting substrate for investigators for years to come.