Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (EC 1.10.2.2). Isolation in triton X-100 by hydroxyapatite and gel chromatography. Structural and functional properties.

1. A mehod for the isolation of a monodisperse ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (complex III) from beef heart mitochondria has been developed. The procedure consists of an enzyme solubilization in Triton X-100 followed by hydroxyapatite and gel chromatography. 2. The minimum unit of the isolated complex is composed of 9 polypeptide subunits with Mr of 49000, 47000, 30000, 25000, 12000, 11000 and 6000. It contains 8 mumol of cytochrome b, 4 mumol of cytochrome c1, 7-8 mumol of nonhemne iron, corresponding to 3.5-4 mumol of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein, less than 1.0 mumol of ubiquinone and about 60 mumol of phospholipids, per g of protein. The specific detergent binding amounts to 0.2g of Triton X-100 per g protein. 3. Cytochrome b exhibits an alpha-absorbance maximum at 562 nm. In redox titrations it reveals two half-reduction potentials, i.e. -10 and + 100 mV, at pH 7.0. The absorbance maximum of cytochrome c1 lies at 553 nm and its half-reduction potential amounts to +250 mV. 4. The reductase reveals electron-transferring activity with ubiquinol-1, -2, -3, and -9 as donor and cytochrome c as acceptor. The activity with ubiquinol-9 was analyzed according to the surface dilution scheme developed for the action of phospholipases. The molecular activity amounts to 75 mol of cytochrome c reduced per s at 20%C. 5. A dissociation constant K's of 5.5 mM has been determined for the Tritonsolubilized enzyme: ubiquinol-containing micelle association. In this case the total concentration of ubiquinol plus Triton X-100 has been substituted for the concentration of binding areas on the ubiquinol-containing micelles. This substitution makes the reasonable assumption that the sum of ubiquinol concentration plus Triton X-100 is proportional to the number of available binding areas. 6. A K'm value of 0.025 was found for ubiquinol-9. This is an analog to the Michaelis constant and is expressed as mol fraction of ubiquinol in the ubiquinol-Triton micelle.