3.D.4 The Proton-translocating Cytochrome Oxidase (COX) Superfamily

Multi-subunit enzyme complexes of the COX superfamily are found in bacteria, archaea and eukarya. These enzyme complexes reduce O₂ to water and concomitantly pump four protons across the membrane. Specific proposals, based on the three-dimensional structure of the enzyme complex, have been put forth to explain proton pumping (Branden et al., 2006; Brzezinski, 2004; Namslauer et al., 2007). They possess a unique bimetallic active site consisting of a heme and a closely associated copper atom where O₂ is reduced. The COX superfamily is therefore also called the heme-copper superfamily. Mitochondrial COX is also referred to as Mitochondrial Respiratory Complex IV. There are two main enzyme types in the COX superfamily which have distinct substrate specificities: cytochrome c oxidases and quinol oxidases. The reduced substrates of the latter enzymes are ubiquinol or menaquinol rather than reduced cytochrome c. Both types of oxidases pump protons. COX pumps one H⁺ per electron transferred to O₂ (Brzezinski and Johansson, 2010).

Eukaryotic COX complexes contain 3 mitochondrially encoded subunits (I, II and III) and up to ten nuclearly-encoded subunits. All prokaryotic members of the COX superfamily contain homologues of subunit I and most also contain homologues of subunits II and III. The nuclearly-encoded subunits of the eukaryotic complexes are not found in bacteria. The cytochrome oxidases of Paracoccus denitrificans and Rhodobacter sphaeroides contain only 3 subunits, but they function as efficiently as the 13-subunit bovine enzyme complex. Some evidence suggests that the monomeric complex of the Rhodobacter enzyme is fully functional for electron flow and proton pumping in artificial membrane (Cvetkov and Prochaska, 2007). For Rhodobacter sphaeroides CytcO (cytochrome aa3), the E286 side chain of subunit I appears to be a branching point from which protons are shuttled either to the catalytic site for O2 reduction or to the acceptor site for pumped protons (Busenlehner et al., 2008). The 3-dimensional structures of the bovine and Paracoccus enzymes have been elucidated by x-ray crystallography. Liu et al. (2011) published crystallographic and online spectral evidence for the roles of conformational changes and conserved water in the Rhodobacter spheroides cytochrome oxidase proton pump.

The E. coli homologue, a ubiquinol oxidase, cytochrome b_o, has homologues of subunits I, II and III. Subunits I of various COXs have at least twelve (but not more than 20) transmembrane spanners. Subunits I bind crucial prosthetic groups and probably provide the proton channel. The probable pathways of H⁺ translocation and the mechanism involved has been reviewed by Schultz and Chan (2001). Most phylogenetic analyses have been conducted with the sequences of subunits I and II.

In the chemolithotrophic, thermophilic, acidophilic crenarchaeota, Acidianus ambivalens, the essential residues comprising the H⁺ channel of the quinol oxidase (TC #3.D.4.9.1) are lacking, and the enzyme is believed to pump protons purely by chemical charge separation. In this six subunit enzyme complex, only the heme-bearing subunit I (DoxB) is demonstrably homologous to subunits in other quinol oxidases.

The bacterial respiratory nitric oxide reductase (NOR (3.D.4.10.1 and 2)) is a member of the super-family of O₂-reducing, proton-pumping, heme-copper oxidases. Even though NO reduction is a highly exergonic reaction, NOR is not a proton pump and rather than taking up protons from the cytoplasmic (membrane potential negative) side of the membrane, like the heme-copper oxidases, NOR derives its substrate protons from the periplasmic (membrane potential positive) side of the membrane. In these complexes, Glu-122 in NorB contributes to defining the aperture of a non-electrogenic 'E-pathway' that serves to deliver protons from the periplasm to the buried active site in NOR (Flock et al., 2007).

Cytochrome c oxidase catalyses the one-electron oxidation of four molecules of cytochrome c and the four-electron reduction of O₂ to water. Electron transfer through the enzyme is coupled to proton pumping across the membrane. Protons that are pumped as well as those that are used for O₂ reduction are transferred though a specific intraprotein (D) pathway. Replacement of residue Asn139 by an Asp, at the beginning of the D pathway, results in blocking proton pumping without slowing uptake of substrate protons used for O₂ reduction. Introduction of the acidic residue results in an increase of the apparent pK(a) of E286, an internal proton donor to the catalytic site, from 9.4 to ~11. Lepp et al (2008) investigated intramolecular electron and proton transfer in a mutant cytochrome c oxidase in which a neutral residue, Thr, was introduced at the 139 site. The mutation resulted in uncoupling of proton pumping from O₂ reduction with a decrease in the apparent pK(a) of E286 from 9.4 to 7.6.

Human diseases associated with COX deficiency including encephalomyopathies, Leigh syndrome, hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, and fatal lactic acidosis are caused by mutations in COX subunits or assembly factors (Diaz, 2010).

Heme-copper oxidases (HCuOs) terminate the respiratory chain in mitochondria and most bacteria. They are transmembrane proteins that catalyse the reduction of oxygen and use the liberated free energy to maintain a proton-motive force across the membrane. The HCuO superfamily has been divided into the oxygen-reducing A-, B- and C-type oxidases as well as the bacterial NO reductases (NOR), catalysing the reduction of NO in the denitrification process. Proton transfer to the catalytic site in the mitochondrial-like A family occurs through two well-defined pathways termed the D- and K-pathways. The B, C, and NOR families differ in the pathways as well as the mechanisms for proton transfer to the active site and across the membrane. Structural and functional investigations, focussing on proton transfer in the B, C and NOR families are discussed by Lee et al. (2012).

The generalized transport reaction catalyzed by cytochrome c (Cyt c) oxidases is:

2Cyt c (red) + 1/2 O₂ + 6H⁺ (in) → 2Cyt c (ox) + H₂O + 4H⁺ (out).

The generalized transport reaction catalyzed by quinol oxidases is:

quinol + 1/2 O₂ + 4H⁺ (in) → quinone + H₂O + 4H⁺ (out).