A transport system for coenzyme A in isolated rat heart mitochondria

The ability of isolated rat heart mitochondria to take up coenzyme A (CoA) from the incubation medium was studied. Mitochondria accumulated CoA in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The accumulation process occurred in two phases. Within the first 30 s of incubation, mitochondrial content of CoA increased, and this phase did not plateau in the concentration range studied. Following this initial increase, a second slower phase of CoA accumulation occurred which plateaued around 50 microM CoA. The initial phase was decreased significantly by ATP or by carboxyatractyloside. In contrast, the presence of ATP or carboxyatractyloside did not affect the second phase. Decreasing the temperature from 30 to 0 degrees C did not affect the initial phase, but the second phase was almost abolished. In the presence of metabolic inhibitors (either 2,4-dinitrophenol or a combination of rotenone and antimycin), the initial "binding" phase was not affected; but the second "uptake" phase was abolished. These results suggest that the first phase of mitochondrial CoA accumulation is probably CoA binding to adenine recognizing sites on the mitochondria while the second phase may represent a specific uptake process for CoA which, although not directly ATP-dependent, is energy-dependent.