scholarly journals Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of Respiratory Complex I Proteins in Melainabacteria

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 929
Author(s):  
Christen Grettenberger ◽  
Dawn Y. Sumner ◽  
Jonathan A. Eisen ◽  
Anne D. Jungblut ◽  
Tyler J. Mackey

The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis was one of the most transformative evolutionary events in Earth’s history, leading eventually to the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere and, consequently, the evolution of aerobic respiration. Previous work has shown that the terminal electron acceptors (complex IV) of aerobic respiration likely evolved after the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. However, complex I of the respiratory complex chain can be involved in anaerobic processes and, therefore, may have pre-dated the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. If so, aerobic respiration may have built upon respiratory chains that pre-date the rise of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere. The Melainabacteria provide a unique opportunity to examine this hypothesis because they contain genes for aerobic respiration but likely diverged from the Cyanobacteria before the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Here, we examine the phylogenies of translated complex I sequences from 44 recently published Melainabacteria metagenome assembled genomes and genomes from other Melainabacteria, Cyanobacteria, and other bacterial groups to examine the evolutionary history of complex I. We find that complex I appears to have been present in the common ancestor of Melainabacteria and Cyanobacteria, supporting the idea that aerobic respiration built upon respiratory chains that pre-date the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis and the rise of oxygen.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. eaav1850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Jussupow ◽  
Andrea Di Luca ◽  
Ville R. I. Kaila

Cardiolipin modulates the activity of membrane-bound respiratory enzymes that catalyze biological energy transduction. The respiratory complex I functions as the primary redox-driven proton pump in mitochondrial and bacterial respiratory chains, and its activity is strongly enhanced by cardiolipin. However, despite recent advances in the structural biology of complex I, cardiolipin-specific interaction mechanisms currently remain unknown. On the basis of millisecond molecular simulations, we suggest that cardiolipin binds to proton-pumping subunits of complex I and induces global conformational changes that modulate the accessibility of the quinone substrate to the enzyme. Our findings provide key information on the coupling between complex I dynamics and activity and suggest how biological membranes modulate the structure and activity of proteins.


Author(s):  
Michael I. Budyko ◽  
Alexander B. Ronov ◽  
Alexander L. Yanshin

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1840
Author(s):  
Camilo Febres-Molina ◽  
Jorge A. Aguilar-Pineda ◽  
Pamela L. Gamero-Begazo ◽  
Haruna L. Barazorda-Ccahuana ◽  
Diego E. Valencia ◽  
...  

ND1 subunit possesses the majority of the inhibitor binding domain of the human mitochondrial respiratory complex I. This is an attractive target for the search for new inhibitors that seek mitochondrial dysfunction. It is known, from in vitro experiments, that some metabolites from Annona muricata called acetogenins have important biological activities, such as anticancer, antiparasitic, and insecticide. Previous studies propose an inhibitory activity of bovine mitochondrial respiratory complex I by bis-tetrahydrofurans acetogenins such as annocatacin B, however, there are few studies on its inhibitory effect on human mitochondrial respiratory complex I. In this work, we evaluate the in silico molecular and energetic affinity of the annocatacin B molecule with the human ND1 subunit in order to elucidate its potential capacity to be a good inhibitor of this subunit. For this purpose, quantum mechanical optimizations, molecular dynamics simulations and the molecular mechanics/Poisson–Boltzmann surface area (MM/PBSA) analysis were performed. As a control to compare our outcomes, the molecule rotenone, which is a known mitochondrial respiratory complex I inhibitor, was chosen. Our results show that annocatacin B has a greater affinity for the ND1 structure, its size and folding were probably the main characteristics that contributed to stabilize the molecular complex. Furthermore, the MM/PBSA calculations showed a 35% stronger binding free energy compared to the rotenone complex. Detailed analysis of the binding free energy shows that the aliphatic chains of annocatacin B play a key role in molecular coupling by distributing favorable interactions throughout the major part of the ND1 structure. These results are consistent with experimental studies that mention that acetogenins may be good inhibitors of the mitochondrial respiratory complex I.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Szczepanowska ◽  
Katharina Senft ◽  
Juliana Heidler ◽  
Marija Herholz ◽  
Alexandra Kukat ◽  
...  

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2B) ◽  
pp. 731-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Lal ◽  
A J T Jull

Nuclear interactions of cosmic rays produce a number of stable and radioactive isotopes on the earth (Lai and Peters 1967). Two of these, 14C and 10Be, find applications as tracers in a wide variety of earth science problems by virtue of their special combination of attributes: 1) their source functions, 2) their half-lives, and 3) their chemical properties. The radioisotope, 14C (half-life = 5730 yr) produced in the earth's atmosphere was the first to be discovered (Anderson et al. 1947; Libby 1952). The next longer-lived isotope, also produced in the earth's atmosphere, 10Be (half-life = 1.5 myr) was discovered independently by two groups within a decade (Arnold 1956; Goel et al. 1957; Lal 1991a). Both the isotopes are produced efficiently in the earth's atmosphere, and also in solids on the earth's surface. Independently and jointly they serve as useful tracers for characterizing the evolutionary history of a wide range of materials and artifacts. Here, we specifically focus on the production of 14C in terrestrial solids, designated as in-situ-produced 14C (to differentiate it from atmospheric 14C, initially produced in the atmosphere). We also illustrate the application to several earth science problems. This is a relatively new area of investigations, using 14C as a tracer, which was made possible by the development of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The availability of the in-situ 14C variety has enormously enhanced the overall scope of 14C as a tracer (singly or together with in-situ-produced 10Be), which eminently qualifies it as a unique tracer for studying earth sciences.


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