Expression of the Mitochondrial ADP/ATP Carrier inEscherichia coli
Previously, the role of residues in the ADP/ATP carrier (AAC) fromSaccharomyces cerevisiaehas been studied by mutagenesis, but the dependence of mitochondrial biogenesis on functional AAC impedes segregation of the mutational effects on transport and biogenesis. Unlike other mitochondrial carriers, expression of the AAC from yeast or mammalians inEscherichia coliencountered difficulties because of disparate codon usage. Here we introduce the AAC fromNeurospora crassainE. coli, where it is accumulated in inclusion bodies and establish the reconstitution conditions. AAC expressed with heat shock vector gave higher activity than with pET-3a. Transport activity was absolutely dependent on cardiolipin. The 10 single mutations of intrahelical positive residues and of the matrix repeat (+X+) motif resulted in lower activity, except of R245A. R143A had decreased sensitivity toward carboxyatractylate. The ATP-linked exchange is generally more affected than ADP exchange. This reflects a charge network that propagates positive charge defects to ATP4−more strongly than to ADP3−transport. Comparison to the homologous mutants of yeast AAC2 permits attribution of the roles of these residues more to ADP/ATP transport or to AAC import into mitochondria.