Control of respiration in proteoliposomes containing cytochrome aa3. I. Stimulation by valinomycin and uncoupler

1. Both valinomycin and p-trifluoromethoxy carbonyl cyanide phenylhydrazone (FCCP) are required for full release of respiration by cytochrome c oxidase-containing proteoliposomes (prepared by sonicating beef heart cytochrome aa3 in salt solution with 4 parts phosphatidylcholine, 4 parts phosphatidylethanolamine and 2 parts cardiolipin) in the presence of external ascorbate and cytochrome c. In the absence of valinomycin the response to FCCP is rather sluggish, as reported by Wrigglesworth et al. (1976) (Abstracts, 10th Int. Congr. Biochem., No. 06-6-230). 2. The Km for cytochrome c in 67 mM, pH 7.4, phosphate buffer with ascorbate as substrate, was 9 micrometer in both absence and presence of valinomycin and FCCP. Energization thus acts non-competitively towards cytochrome c oxidation. 3. The apparent Km for oxygen is greater in the energized than in the deenergized state; double reciprocal plots of respiration rate versus oxygen concentration are concave downward in the absence of uncouplers, as found with intact mitochondria. Energization thus acts "competitively" towards oxygen. 4. Despite the lack of a functional ATPase system, all the kinetic features of energization found in intact mitochondria can be mimicked in the reconstituted liposomes. This supports the chemiosmotic idea that electrical and perhaps H+ gradients modify the oxidase activity in reconstituted vesicles.