Structural and functional organization of Complex I in the mitochondrial respiratory chain.

Metabolic flux control analysis of NADH oxidation in bovine heart submitochondrial particles revealed high flux control coefficients for both Complex I and Complex III, suggesting that the two enzymes are functionally associated as a single enzyme, with channelling of the common substrate, Coenzyme Q. This is in contrast with the more accepted view of a mobile diffusable Coenzyme Q pool between these enzymes. Dilution with phospholipids of a mitochondrial fraction enriched in Complexes I and III, with consequent increased theoretical distance between complexes, determines adherence to pool behavior for Coenzyme Q, but only at dilution higher than 1:5 (protein:phospholipids), whereas, at lower phospholipid content, the turnover of NADH cytochrome c reductase is higher than expected by the pool equation.