Robert E. Erickson

COENZYME Q. LI. NEW DATA ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF COENZYME Q IN NATURE.

The heart of the rhesus monkey was found to contain coenzyme Q 10 . This experimental primate may serve as a model for studies of CoQ 10 as it may relate to human disease. Frog nerve tissue was also found to contain CoQ 10 . Such tissue may be a useful system for researches on CoQ in nerve physiology. Only CoQ 10 was identified in human and rodent tumors grown in mice. The tumor strains were HAd-1, HS-1, and S-180. Cells of Ochromonas malhamensis contain CoQ 10 . It is of interest that both man and this Ochromonas sp. specifically use both CoQ 10 and vitamin B 12 . Contrary to an earlier report that a given Polyporous did not contain a CoQ, it has now been found that Polyporous schweinitzii contains both CoQ 9 and CoQ 10 . The “J strain” of a PPLO ( Mycoplasma gallisepticum ) is of current interest both in respect to its nutrition and its infectious characteristics; this PPLO strain did not contain either a member of either the CoQ or vitamin K groups.

Coenzyme Q. XX. Isolation of coenzymes Q9 and Q10 from two Basidiomycetes

Abstract Prior examination of four Basidiomycetes did not reveal the presence of any member of the coenzyme Q group. However, further isolation studies have now yielded coenzyme Qs from two Basidiomycetes . Coenzymes Q 9 and Q 10 were identified from Ustilago zea , and coenzyme Q 9 from Agaricus campestris . Evidence for the possible presence of plastoquinone and basidioquinone was not found.

Coenzyme Q. XLIII. The new 5-chloromethyl-6-chromanyl acetate of vitamin K1(20)

Abstract A new and unexpected 6-chromanyl derivative of vitamin K 1(20) has been isolated from an acetylated enzymic reaction mixture obtained after incubating vitamin K 1(20) in a light-inactivated, cell-free extract of Mycobacterium phlei . The structure of the new compound was established as the 5-chloromethyl-6-chromanyl acetate derivative I of vitamin K 1(20) ; its non-enzymic origin was confirmed later by chemical transformations of vitamin K 1(20) .