Effect of iron deficiency on succinate- and NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductases in skeletal muscle mitochondria.

The effects of iron deficiency on the NADH- and succinate-oxidizing complexes of rat skeletal muscle mitochondria have been investigated. Both systems were similarly affected: activities were about 30% of normal in dehydrogenase, ubiquinone reductase, and oxidase assays, and similar reductions in the concentration of their respective flavin prosthetic groups were also evident in the iron-deficient membranes. Thus, the turnover numbers of the two enzymes were unchanged in iron deficiency. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed similarly reduced levels of those peptide components of Complexes I and II that could be unequivocally distinguished. Soluble beef heart succinate dehydrogenase added to alkaline-treated rat skeletal muscle mitochondrial membranes attached to binding sites exposed by the treatment, forming a hybrid complex indistinguishable from the original skeletal muscle complex, with restoration of succinoxidase and succinate-ubiquinone reductase activities to the levels observed in the original rat membranes. Iron-deficient particles behaved like the normal in these tests. No unfilled binding sites for the enzyme could be detected prior to alkaline treatment. The data are interpreted as indicating that the lower activities of these two respiratory complexes in iron deficiency are due to lower content of the enzymes rather than to the presence of impaired enzymes in the membrane, that only fully competent complexes are present in these membranes, and that iron-deficient complexes are either not assembled or are lost after assembly.