The nature of the inhibition of 4,7-dioxobenzothiazole derivatives on mitochondrial ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase.

To investigate the inhibitory action and binding site of a quinone-like molecule, 5-undecyl-6-hydroxy-4,7-dioxobenzothiazole (UHDBT), a series of 4,7-dioxobenzothiazole derivatives were synthesized and their inhibitory efficiencies studied. Replacing the 6-hydroxyl or 2-hydrogen of UHDBT with a bromo or a methoxy group causes only a slight decrease in inhibitory efficiency, indicating that the 6-hydroxyl or the 2-hydrogen of UHDBT is not a structural requirement for inhibition. 5-Undecyl-6-bromo (or methoxy)-4,7-dioxobenzothiazole shows a pH-dependent inhibition similar to that observed with UHDBT, suggesting that the pH dependence is due to the presence of a dissociable group in the protein complex and not to the deprotonation of the hydroxyl group of the inhibitor. Replacing the 6-hydroxyl group with an azido group causes changes similar to those observed with UHDBT; the inhibition is accompanied by alteration of the epr characteristics of reduced iron-sulfur protein in ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase. The extent of inhibition is not changed upon illumination of the treated reductase. When the photolyzed, 6-azido-5-(1',2'-[3H] undecyl)-4,7-dioxobenzothiazole [( 3H]6-azido-UDBT)-treated reductase is subjected to organic solvent extraction, no radioactivity is found in the reductase protein. Rather, the radioactivity is located in the phospholipid fraction. A [3H]azido-UDBT-cardiolipin adduct, identified after separation of the phospholipid fraction by high performance liquid chromatography, has 6-azido-UDBT linked to an acyl group, not to the head group of the cardiolipin molecule. These results suggest that inhibition by UHDBT is due to perturbation of specific cardiolipin molecules in ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase. Since UHDBT and 6-azido-UDBT also inhibit the ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase activity of delipidated reductase (10% of the original lipid remaining) assayed after reconstitution with ubiquinone and phospholipid, and the [3H]azido-UDBT-cardiolipin adduct is also found in the delipidated reductase, the UHDBT-perturbed cardiolipin molecule is structurally indispensable to reductase and it tightly bound to the reductase protein, most likely the quinone binding proteins.