AUTHOR=Nuber Franziska , Mérono Luca , Oppermann Sabrina , Schimpf Johannes , Wohlwend Daniel , Friedrich Thorsten TITLE=A Quinol Anion as Catalytic Intermediate Coupling Proton Translocation With Electron Transfer in E. coli Respiratory Complex I JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.672969 DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.672969 ISSN=2296-2646 ABSTRACT=

Energy-converting NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, respiratory complex I, plays a major role in cellular energy metabolism. It couples NADH oxidation and quinone reduction with the translocation of protons across the membrane, thus contributing to the protonmotive force. Complex I has an overall L-shaped structure with a peripheral arm catalyzing electron transfer and a membrane arm engaged in proton translocation. Although both reactions are arranged spatially separated, they are tightly coupled by a mechanism that is not fully understood. Using redox-difference UV-vis spectroscopy, an unknown redox component was identified in Escherichia coli complex I as reported earlier. A comparison of its spectrum with those obtained for different quinone species indicates features of a quinol anion. The re-oxidation kinetics of the quinol anion intermediate is significantly slower in the D213GH variant that was previously shown to operate with disturbed quinone chemistry. Addition of the quinone-site inhibitor piericidin A led to strongly decreased absorption peaks in the difference spectrum. A hypothesis for a mechanism of proton-coupled electron transfer with the quinol anion as catalytically important intermediate in complex I is discussed.