Isolation, properties, and structural features of divalent cation ionophores derived from beef heart mitochondria.

The notion of small molecular weight ion carriers in biological systems is herein documented by a description of the isolation and ionophoretic properties of a family of oxyoctadecadienoate congeners derived from beef-heart mitochondria. Although certain members of this family of compounds have been shown to possess unique ionophoretic properties, one should not lose sight of the fact that the compounds that we have described represented only a portion of the total picture. Other chemically unrelated, yet structurally unknown species have been isolated from beef-heart mitochondria, and compounds similar in both chromatographic and spectroscopic properties to the oxyoctadecadienoate family, as well as other unique structures, have been isolated in our laboratory from sarcoplasmic reticulum and chloroplasts. The important points to be derived from these findings are that there is an apparent abundance of natural ionophores and we should no longer concern should address ourselves to the more relevant task of digging them out and ourselves with the question "are there ionophores in biological systems?" but describing their chemical and physical properties. In view of the apparent abundance of natural ionophores, this is an enormous task, especially when one considers that it only represents half of the problem. The isolation and description of the ionophoroprotein or channel-forming complexes share equally in the overall significance and level of understanding attributable to this area of inquiry and it would appear that many fruitful collaborative ventures are, or should be, on the horizon.