FAD-dependent regulation of transcription, translation, post-translational processing, and post-processing stability of various mitochondrial acyl-CoA dehydrogenases and of electron transfer flavoprotein and the site of holoenzyme formation.

The most prominent biochemical consequence of riboflavin deficiency in rats is a drastic decrease in various acyl-CoA dehydrogenase activities, especially that of short chain and isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase (IVD). As a result, oxidation of fatty acids and leucine is severely inhibited. We studied the effects of FAD at various stages of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase biogenesis. Immunoblot revealed severe losses of various acyl-CoA dehydrogenases and electron transfer flavoprotein in riboflavin-deficient rat liver mitochondria. The decreases in IVD and short chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase were particularly severe, reaching values of 17 and 34% of controls, respectively. With the exception of IVD, the rate of in vitro transcription of the respective genes and the amounts of mRNAs of these flavoproteins in tissues increased 3-8.5-fold over controls. The amount of IVD mRNA and its transcription rate remained unchanged, suggesting that IVD expression is regulated separately from other acyl-CoA dehydrogenases. When riboflavin was depleted, in vitro translation of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and electron transfer flavoprotein alpha-subunit mRNAs was moderately inhibited. Translation of non-flavoproteins was also inhibited. The stability of precursor acyl-CoA dehydrogenases and their mitochondrial import/processing were unaffected. However, mature acyl-CoA dehydrogenases degraded markedly faster in deficient mitochondria than in controls. Regardless of whether precursors were translated under riboflavin-depleted or riboflavin replete conditions, mature acyl-CoA dehydrogenases survived well when imported into normal mitochondria but degraded faster when imported into deficient mitochondria. These findings indicate that FAD ligand binds to mature acyl-CoA dehydrogenase inside the mitochondria.