Resolution and reconstitution of succinate-ubiquinone reductase from Escherichia coli

A modified procedure is developed for isolation of highly purified succinate-ubiquinone reductase from Escherichia coli NM256 containing a cloned sdh operon in a multicopy plasmid. Succinate-ubiquinone reductase is solubilized from the membrane by polyoxyethylene-9-lauryl ether and purified by DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B column chromatography. The isolated reductase is resolved into a reconstitutively active, two-subunit succinate dehydrogenase and a two-subunit membrane anchoring protein fraction (the SdhC-SdhD fraction) by alkaline (pH 10.2) treatment of the reductase in the presence of 1 M urea, followed by DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B column chromatography under anaerobic conditions. Isolated succinate dehydrogenase and the SdhC-SdhD fraction alone show no succinate-ubiquinone reductase activity. However, when a given amount of the SdhC-SdhD fraction is mixed with varying amounts of succinate dehydrogenase or vice versa succinate-ubiquinone reductase activity increases as the amount of succinate dehydrogenase or the SdhC-SdhD fraction added increases. Maximum reconstitution is obtained when the weight ratio of succinate dehydrogenase to the SdhC-SdhD fraction reaches 5.26. This ratio is slightly higher than the calculated value of 3.37, obtained by assuming 1 mol of succinate dehydrogenase reacts with 1 mol of SdhC and SdhD. The isolated SdhC-SdhD fraction contains 35 nmol cytochrome b556/mg protein. Unlike mitochondrial cytochrome b560, the cytochrome b556 is reducible by succinate in the isolated and complex forms. Furthermore, cytochrome b556 in the isolated SdhC-SdhD fraction has absorption properties, carbon monoxide reactivity, and EPR characteristics similar to those of cytochrome b556 in intact succinate-ubiquinone reductase, indicating that its heme environments are not affected by the presence of succinate dehydrogenase. However, the redox potential of cytochrome b556 in the SdhC-SdhD fraction (22 mV) increases slightly when complexed with succinate dehydrogenase (34 mV). No hybrid succinate-ubiquinone reductase is formed from mitochondrial QPs (the membrane-anchoring protein fraction of bovine heart mitochondrial succinate-ubiquinone reductase) and E. coli succinate dehydrogenase or vice versa. However, the cytochrome b556 in E. coli SdhC-SdhD fraction is reducible by succinate in the presence of mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase, and the rate of cytochrome b556 reduction correlates with the reconstitutive activity of the mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase.