Claire Lemaire

Preparation of Respiratory Chain Complexes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae Wild-Type and Mutant Mitochondria

The mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation involves five multimeric complexes imbedded in the inner membrane: complex I (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NADH) quinone oxidoreductase), II (succinate dehydrogenase), III (ubiquinol cytochrome c oxido reductase or bc1 complex), IV (cytochrome c oxidase), and V (ATP synthase). These respiratory complexes are conserved from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to human with the exception of complex I, which is replaced by three NADH dehydrogenases in S. cerevisiae. Here, we provide several protocols allowing an exhaustive characterization of each yeast complex: this chapter describes procedures from mitochondria preparation to measurement of the activity of each complex and analysis of their subunit composition and provides information on the interactions between different complexes.

Rmd9p controls the processing/stability of mitochondrial mRNAs and its overexpression compensates for a partial deficiency of oxa1p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Oxa1p is a key component of the general membrane insertion machinery of eukaryotic respiratory complex subunits encoded by the mitochondrial genome. In this study, we have generated a respiratory-deficient mutant, oxa1-E65G-F229S, that contains two substitutions in the predicted intermembrane space domain of Oxa1p. The respiratory deficiency due to this mutation is compensated for by overexpressing RMD9. We show that Rmd9p is an extrinsic membrane protein facing the matrix side of the mitochondrial inner membrane. Its deletion leads to a pleiotropic effect on respiratory complex biogenesis. The steady-state level of all the mitochondrial mRNAs encoding respiratory complex subunits is strongly reduced in the Δrmd9 mutant, and there is a slight decrease in the accumulation of two RNAs encoding components of the small subunit of the mitochondrial ribosome. Overexpressing RMD9 leads to an increase in the steady-state level of mitochondrial RNAs, and we discuss how this increase could suppress the oxa1 mutations and compensate for the membrane insertion defect of the subunits encoded by these mRNAs.

Role of positively charged transmembrane segments in the insertion and assembly of mitochondrial inner-membrane proteins.

The biogenesis of membrane oligomeric complexes is an intricate process that requires the insertion and assembly of transmembrane (TM) domains into the lipid bilayer. The Oxa1p family plays a key role in this process in organelles and bacteria. Hell et al. (2001, EMBO J., 20, 1281–1288) recently have proposed that Oxa1p could act as part of a general membrane insertion machinery for mitochondrial respiratory complex subunits. We have previously shown that mutations in the TM domain of Cyt1p can partially compensate for the absence of Oxa1p. Here, we demonstrate that a single amino acid substitution in the TM domain of Qcr9p can bypass Oxa1p in yeast. Qcr9p and Cyt1p are two subunits of the respiratory complex bc1 and their relative roles in the assembly of other respiratory complexes have been investigated. The mutations we have isolated in Cyt1p or Qcr9p introduce positively charged amino acids, and we show that the mutant TM domain of Cyt1p mediates the restoration of complex assembly. We propose that the positive charges introduced in Cyt1p and Qcr9p TM domains promote interactions with negatively charged TM domains of other respiratory complex subunits, allowing the coinsertion of both domains into the membrane, in the absence of Oxa1p. This model argues in favor of a role of Oxa1p in the insertion and the lateral exit of less hydrophobic TM domains from the translocation site into the lipid bilayer.

Quantitative variations of the mitochondrial proteome and phosphoproteome during fermentative and respiratory growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

UNLABELLED The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a facultative aerobe able to adapt its metabolism according to the carbon substrate. The mechanisms of these adaptations involve at least partly the mitochondria but are not yet well understood. To address the possible role of protein phosphorylation event in their regulation, it is necessary in a first instance to determine precisely the phosphorylation sites that show changes depending on the carbon source. In this aim we performed an overall quantitative proteomic and phosphoproteomic study of isolated mitochondria extracted from yeast grown on fermentative (glucose or galactose) and respiratory (lactate) media. Label free quantitative analysis of protein accumulation revealed significant variation of 176 mitochondrial proteins including 108 proteins less accumulated in glucose medium than in lactate and galactose media. We also showed that the responses to galactose and glucose are not similar. Stable isotope dimethyl labeling allowed the quantitative comparison of phosphorylation levels between the different growth conditions. This study enlarges significantly the map of yeast mitochondrial phosphosites as 670 phosphorylation sites were identified, of which 214 were new and quantified. Above all, we showed that 90 phosphosites displayed a significant variation according to the medium and that variation of phosphorylation level is site-dependent. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE This proteomic and phosphoproteomic study is the first extensive study providing quantitative data on phosphosites responses to different carbon substrates independent of the variations of protein quantities in the yeast S. cerevisiae mitochondria. The significant changes observed in the level of phosphorylation according to the carbon substrate open the way to the study of the regulation of mitochondrial proteins by phosphorylation in fermentative and respiratory media. In addition, the identification of a large number of new phosphorylation sites show that the characterization of mitochondrial phosphoproteome is not yet completed.

p53 and Retinoblastoma protein (pRb): a complex network of interactions.

p53 and the Retinoblastoma protein (pRb) are two oncosuppressive proteins whose loss of function is linked to the development of many cancers. Both of them play a central role in the regulation of both cell cycle and apoptosis. Different observations have led to a paradigm in which p53 and pRb can regulate each other, pRb playing an important role in the outcome—growth arrest versus apoptosis—of p53 activation.

Inhibition of Bcl-2-dependent cell survival by a caspase inhibitor: a possible new pathway for Bcl-2 to regulate cell death

The REtsAF cell line expresses a temperature‐sensitive mutant of the SV40 large tumor antigen. At restrictive temperature (39.5°C), the cells undergo p53‐mediated apoptosis, which can be inhibited by Bcl‐2. Here, we show that Z‐VAD‐fmk, a caspase inhibitor, can suppress the Bcl‐2‐dependent cell survival at 39.5°C. This result suggests that a caspase‐like activity can act as an inhibitor of apoptosis in this model, downstream of Bcl‐2. Our results also suggest that this activity may be up‐regulated by Bcl‐2 and may be responsible for cleavage of the tumor suppressor Rb protein.

Respiratory mutations lead to different pleiotropic effects on OXPHOS complexes in yeast and in human cells

Pleiotropic effects in the oxidative phosphorylation pathway (OXPHOS) were investigated in yeast respiratory mutants and in cells from patients with OXPHOS genetic alterations. The main differences between yeast and human cells were (1) the site of the primary defect that was associated with pleiotropic effects, yeast complex V and human complex IV, and (2) the nature of the complex targeted by the secondary effect, yeast complex IV and human complex I. The pleiotropic effects did not correlate with the organization of OXPHOS into supercomplexes and their functional consequences appeared to be a slowing down of the respiratory chain in order to avoid either an increase in the membrane potential or the accumulation of reduced intermediary components of the respiratory chain.

Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Isolated Mitochondria in Yeast

Mitochondria play a central role in cellular energy metabolism and cell death. Deregulation of mitochondrial functions is associated with several human pathologies (neurodegenerative diseases, neuromuscular diseases, type II diabetes, obesity, cancer). The steadily increasing number of identified mitochondrial phosphoproteins, kinases, and phosphatases in recent years suggests that reversible protein phosphorylation plays an important part in the control of mitochondrial processes. In addition, many mitochondrial phosphoproteins probably still remain to be identified, considering that 30% of proteins are expected to be phosphorylated in eukaryotes. In this chapter, we describe two procedures for the analysis of the mitochondrial phosphoproteome. The first one is a qualitative method that combines blue native and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-BN/SDS-PAGE) and specific phosphoprotein staining. The second one is a quantitative approach that associates mitochondrial peptide labeling, phosphopeptide enrichment, and mass spectrometry.