Isobongkrekic acid, a new inhibitor of mitochondrial ADP-ATP transport: radioactive labeling and chemical and biological properties.

An isomer of bongkrekic acid, designated as isobongkrekic acid, has been isolated from ethereal extracts of Pseudomonas cocovenenans grown on defatted coconut. Isobongkrekic acid was also obtained by alkaline treatment of bongkrekic acid. Isobongkrekic acid possesses the same ultraviolet spectrum and the same molecular weight as bongkrekic acid; it has a similar infrared spectrum but not the same nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum. The differences in NMR data were interpreted to mean that isobongkrekic acid differs from bongkrekic acid by the configuration of the dicarboxylic end; whereas the two carboxylic groups of the dicarboxylic end have the trans configuration in bongkrekic acid, they have the cis configuration in isobongkrekic acid. Differences between bongkrekic and isobongkrekic acids are lost after catalytic hydrogenation of the molecules. Isobongkrekic acid, like bongkrekic acid, is an uncompetitive inhibitor of ADP transport in mitochondria, provided the mitochondria are preincubated in the presence of the inhibitor and a minute concentration of ADP. The inhibitory and binding efficiency of isobongkrekic acid is considerably increased below pH 7. The number of high affinity sites for [3H] isobongkrekic acid is 0.13 to 0.20 nmol/mg protein in rat liver mitochondria and about 1 nmol/mg protein in rat heart mitochondria, i.e., similar to the number of high affinity sites for [3H] bongkrekic acid. Isobongkrekic and bongkrekic acids compete for the same site, but the affinity of isobongkrekic acid for mitochondria is one-half to one-fourth that of bongkrekic acid.