Isolation, subunit composition, and site of synthesis of human cytochrome c oxidase

Cytochrome c oxidase (ferrocytochrome c:oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.9.3.1), the terminal oxidase of the respiratory chain in eucaryotic cells, has been purified from human placenta mitochondria. Seven polypeptides have been identified reproducibly by high-resolution electrophoresis of the enzyme complex through sodium dodecyl sulfate (Na-DodSO4)--urea polyacrylamide gels; these correspond closely in size to the subunits of beef heart cytochrome c oxidase. When HeLa cells, grown in suspension culture, were pulse-labeled with [35S]methionine in the presence of cycloheximide to inhibit cytoplasmic protein synthesis and chased with an excess of unlabeled methionine in the absence of the drug, the mitochondrially synthesized polypeptides were resolved into at least 17 components by NaDodSO4--urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. After labeled HeLa mitochondria were mixed with human placenta mitochondria and the cytochrome c oxidase was isolated, three of the labeled components were found to copurify with the three largest subunits of the complex. We conclude that human cytochrome c oxidase contains seven subunits, the three largest of which are synthesized on mitochondrial ribosomes, while the other four are synthesized in the cytoplasm.