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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Bovine heart cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) pumps four proton equivalents per catalytic cycle through the H-pathway, a proton-conducting pathway, which includes a hydrogen bond network and a water channel operating in tandem. Protons are transferred by H3O+ through the water channel from the N-side into the hydrogen bond network, where they are pumped to the P-side by electrostatic repulsion between protons and net positive charges created at heme a as a result of electron donation to O2 bound to heme a3 To block backward proton movement, the water channel remains closed after O2 binding until the sequential four-proton pumping process is complete. Thus, the hydrogen bond network must collect four proton equivalents before O2 binding. However, a region with the capacity to accept four proton equivalents was not discernable in the x-ray structures of the hydrogen bond network. The present x-ray structures of oxidized/reduced bovine CcO are improved from 1.8/1.9 to 1.5/1.6 A resolution, increasing the structural information by 1.7/1.6 times and revealing that a large water cluster, which includes a Mg2+ ion, is linked to the H-pathway. The cluster contains enough proton acceptor groups to retain four proton equivalents. The redox-coupled x-ray structural changes in Glu198, which bridges the Mg2+ and CuA (the initial electron acceptor from cytochrome c) sites, suggest that the CuA-Glu198-Mg2+ system drives redox-coupled transfer of protons pooled in the water cluster to the H-pathway. Thus, these x-ray structures indicate that the Mg2+-containing water cluster is the crucial structural element providing the effective proton pumping in bovine CcO.

The Mg2+-containing Water Cluster of Mammalian Cytochrome c Oxidase Collects Four Pumping Proton Equivalents in Each Catalytic Cycle.,Yano N, Muramoto K, Shimada A, Takemura S, Baba J, Fujisawa H, Mochizuki M, Shinzawa-Itoh K, Yamashita E, Tsukihara T, Yoshikawa S J Biol Chem. 2016 Nov 11;291(46):23882-23894. Epub 2016 Sep 7. PMID:27605664^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.