An important diagnostic muscle biopsy finding in patients with mitochondrial DNA disease is the presence of respiratory-chain deficient fibres. These fibres are detected as cytochrome c oxidase-deficient following a sequential cytochrome c oxidase-succinate dehydrogenase reaction, often in a mosaic pattern within a population of cytochrome c oxidase-normal fibres. Detailed analysis of muscle bi...

We have investigated the extent to which functional expression of the plant alternative oxidase (from Sauromatum guttatum) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe affects yeast growth. When cells are cultured on glycerol, the maximum specific growth rate is decreased from 0.13 to 0.11 h-1 while growth yield is lowered by 20% (from 1. 14 x 10(8) to 9.12 x 10(7) cells ml-1). Kinetic studies suggest that the...

Ischemia and reperfusion result in mitochondrial dysfunction, with decreases in oxidative capacity, loss of cytochrome c, and generation of reactive oxygen species. During ischemia of the isolated perfused rabbit heart, subsarcolemmal mitochondria, located beneath the plasma membrane, sustain a loss of the phospholipid cardiolipin, with decreases in oxidative metabolism through cytochrome oxida...

SenC, a Sco1 homolog found in the purple photosynthetic bacteria, has been implicated in affecting photosynthesis and respiratory gene expression, as well as assembly of cytochrome c oxidase. In this study, we show that SenC from Rhodobacter capsulatus is involved in the assembly of a fully functional cbb(3)-type cytochrome c oxidase, as revealed by decreased cytochrome c oxidase activity in a ...

Cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) is the terminal enzyme of the mitochondria respiratory chain catalysing electron transfer from cytochrome c to molecular oxygen [ 1,2]. The molecular mechanism of this process is still not understood. At present, little is known about such important structural features as the position of the prosthetic groups or the location and characteristics of the cytochrom...

The terminal enzyme of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, cytochrome oxidase, transfers electrons to molecular oxygen, generating water. Within the inner mitochondrial membrane, cytochrome oxidase assembles into supercomplexes, together with other respiratory chain complexes, forming so-called respirasomes. Little is known about how these higher oligomeric structures are attained. Here we rep...

Using near-infrared spectroscopy, we developed a new approach for measuring the redox state of cytochrome oxidase in the brain under normal blood-circulation conditions. Our algorithm does not require the absorption coefficient of cytochrome oxidase, which differs from study to study. We employed this method for evaluation of effects of changes in oxygen delivery on cerebral oxygenation in rats...

The use of near-infrared spectroscopy to measure noninvasively changes in the redox state of cerebral cytochrome oxidase in vivo is controversial. We therefore tested these measurements using a multiwavelength detector in the neonatal pig brain. Exchange transfusion with perfluorocarbons revealed that the spectrum of cytochrome oxidase in the near-infrared was identical in the neonatal pig, the...