Biomedical subjects

Martin D Brand

Publications and source records attributed to Martin D Brand.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Nucleotide binding to human uncoupling protein-2 refolded from bacterial inclusion bodies.

Experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that recombinant human uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2) ectopically expressed in bacterial inclusion bodies binds nucleotides in a manner identical with the nucleotide-inhibited uncoupling that is observed in kidney mitochondria. For this, sarkosyl-solubilized UCP2 inclusion bodies were treated with the polyoxyethylene ether detergent C12E9 and hydroxyapatite. Protein recovered from hydroxyapatite chromatography was approx. 90% pure UCP2, as judged by Coomassie Blue and silver staining of polyacrylamide gels. Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer, N-methylanthraniloyl-tagged purine nucleoside di- and tri-phosphates exhibited enhanced fluorescence with purified UCP2. Dissociation constants determined by least-squares non-linear regression indicated that the affinity of UCP2 for these fluorescently tagged nucleotides was 3-5 microM or perhaps an order of magnitude stronger, depending on the model used. Competition experiments with [8-14C]ATP demonstrated that UCP2 binds unmodified purine and pyrimidine nucleoside triphosphates with 2-5 microM affinity. Affinities for ADP and GDP were approx. 10-fold lower. These data indicate that: UCP2 (a) is at least partially refolded from sarkosyl-solubilized bacterial inclusion bodies by a two-step treatment with C12E9 detergent and hydroxyapatite; (b) binds purine and pyrimidine nucleoside triphosphates with low micromolar affinity; (c) binds GDP with the same affinity as GDP inhibits superoxide-stimulated uncoupling by kidney mitochondria; and (d) exhibits a different nucleotide preference than kidney mitochondria.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed2002

Superoxide activates mitochondrial uncoupling proteins.

Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) diverts energy from ATP synthesis to thermogenesis in the mitochondria of brown adipose tissue by catalysing a regulated leak of protons across the inner membrane. The functions of its homologues, UCP2 and UCP3, in other tissues are debated. UCP2 and UCP3 are present at much lower abundance than UCP1, and the uncoupling with which they are associated is not significantly thermogenic. Mild uncoupling would, however, decrease the mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species, which are important mediators of oxidative damage. Here we show that superoxide increases mitochondrial proton conductance through effects on UCP1, UCP2 and UCP3. Superoxide-induced uncoupling requires fatty acids and is inhibited by purine nucleotides. It correlates with the tissue expression of UCPs, appears in mitochondria from yeast expressing UCP1, and is absent in skeletal muscle mitochondria from UCP3 knockout mice. Our findings indicate that the interaction of superoxide with UCPs may be a mechanism for decreasing the concentrations of reactive oxygen species inside mitochondria.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗

PubMed2002

Artifactual uncoupling by uncoupling protein 3 in yeast mitochondria at the concentrations found in mouse and rat skeletal-muscle mitochondria.

Western blots detected uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3) in skeletal-muscle mitochondria from wild-type but not UCP3 knock-out mice. Calibration with purified recombinant UCP3 showed that mouse and rat skeletal muscle contained 0.14 microg of UCP3/mg of mitochondrial protein. This very low UCP3 content is 200-700-fold less than the concentration of UCP1 in brown-adipose-tissue mitochondria from warm-adapted hamster (24-84 microg of UCP1/mg of mitochondrial protein). UCP3 was present in brown-adipose-tissue mitochondria from warm-adapted rats but was undetectable in rat heart mitochondria. We expressed human UCP3 in yeast mitochondria at levels similar to, double and 7-fold those found in rodent skeletal-muscle mitochondria. Yeast mitochondria containing UCP3 were more uncoupled than empty-vector controls, particularly at concentrations that were 7-fold physiological. However, uncoupling by UCP3 was not stimulated by the known activators palmitate and superoxide; neither were they inhibited by GDP, suggesting that the observed uncoupling was a property of non-native protein. As a control, UCP1 was expressed in yeast mitochondria at similar concentrations to that of UCP3 and at up to 50% of the physiological level of UCP1. Low levels of UCP1 gave palmitate-dependent and GDP-sensitive proton conductance but higher levels of UCP1 caused an additional GDP-insensitive uncoupling artifact. We conclude that the uncoupling of yeast mitochondria by high levels of UCP3 expression is entirely an artifact and provides no evidence for any native uncoupling activity of the protein.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗

PubMed2002

Does any yeast mitochondrial carrier have a native uncoupling protein function?

In this study, we explore the hypothesis that some member of the mitochondrial carrier family has specific uncoupling activity that is responsible for the basal proton conductance of mitochondria. Twenty-seven of the 35 yeast mitochondrial carrier genes were independently disrupted in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Six knockout strains did not grow on nonfermentable carbon sources such as lactate. Mitochondria were isolated from the remaining 21 strains, and their proton conductances were measured. None of the 21 carriers contributed significantly to the basal proton leak of yeast mitochondria. A possible exception was the succinate/fumarate carrier encoded by the Xc2 gene, but deletion of this gene also affected yeast growth and respiratory chain activity, suggesting a more general alteration in mitochondrial function. If a specific protein is responsible for the basal proton conductance of yeast mitochondria, its identity remains unknown.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Control analysis of DNA microarray expression data.

DNA microarrays produce large amounts of data. Complex changes in gene expression are revealed; sometimes thousands of mRNAs change between experiments. Here we apply modular regulation analysis to microarray data to reveal and quantify the mRNA changes that are important for cellular responses. The mRNAs are sorted into clusters. How strongly a perturbation alters each cluster is multiplied by how strongly each cluster affects an output, to obtain coefficients that describe how much of the change in the output is transmitted through each mRNA cluster. An example published dataset is analysed to reveal that the response ('relative fitness') of yeast to 2-deoxy-D-glucose is not transmitted by a single mRNA cluster, but instead many clusters contribute to the overall response. The method is applicable to microarray, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome data.

Deoxyglucose↗

PubMed2002

Simplifying metabolic complexity.

A complete description of the regulation of metabolism in even a single cell will be very hard to achieve, enormous and indigestible. However, there are two powerful ways to simplify the complexity. Firstly, related processes and intermediates can be grouped into a small number of modules, and the regulation of the simplified system can be studied. Secondly, control analysis can be used. With these simplifications to illuminate the important regulatory features, even a full description could be made intellectually and experimentally accessible without distorting the essential regulatory features. Modular control analysis is powerful because it can quantify the relative importance of different flows of regulatory information through any metabolic, physiological, signalling or transcriptional network. It can answer global questions about the importance of different pathways mediating any change to a system. It has been used to analyse how cadmium, a poison with multiple effects, changes oxidative phosphorylation in isolated mitochondria, and to quantify the regulation of energy metabolism in hepatocytes. It has been used to measure how energy metabolism is regulated during mitogen stimulation of thymocytes, quantifying the relative importance of different signalling pathways and how each pathway contributes to the activation of energy metabolism. Recently, we have applied modular control analysis to modern DNA microarray expression profiling to measure the importance of different groups of mRNA transcripts in mediating physiological responses.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed2002

Primary causes of decreased mitochondrial oxygen consumption during metabolic depression in snail cells.

Cells isolated from the hepatopancreas of estivating snails (Helix aspersa) have strongly depressed mitochondrial respiration compared with controls. Mitochondrial respiration was divided into substrate oxidation (which produces the mitochondrial membrane potential) and ATP turnover and proton leak (which consume it). The activity of substrate oxidation (and probably ATP turnover) decreased, whereas the activity of proton leak remained constant in estivation. These primary changes resulted in a lower mitochondrial membrane potential in hepatopancreas cells from estivating compared with active snails, leading to secondary decreases in respiration to drive ATP turnover and proton leak. The respiration to drive ATP turnover and proton leak decreased in proportion to the overall decrease in mitochondrial respiration, so that the amount of ATP turned over per O2 consumed remained relatively constant and aerobic efficiency was maintained in this hypometabolic state. At least 75% of the total response of mitochondrial respiration to estivation was caused by primary changes in the kinetics of substrate oxidation, with only 25% or less of the response occurring through primary effects on ATP turnover.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed2001

The basal proton conductance of skeletal muscle mitochondria from transgenic mice overexpressing or lacking uncoupling protein-3.

The ability of native uncoupling protein-3 (UCP3) to uncouple mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation is controversial. We measured the expression level of UCP3 and the proton conductance of skeletal muscle mitochondria isolated from transgenic mice overexpressing human UCP3 (UCP3-tg) and from UCP3 knockout (UCP3-KO) mice. The concentration of UCP3 in UCP3-tg mitochondria was approximately 3 microg/mg protein, approximately 20-fold higher than the wild type value. UCP3-tg mitochondria had increased nonphosphorylating respiration rates, decreased respiratory control, and approximately 4-fold increased proton conductance compared with the wild type. However, this increased uncoupling in UCP3-tg mitochondria was not caused by native function of UCP3 because it was not proportional to the increase in UCP3 concentration and was neither activated by superoxide nor inhibited by GDP. UCP3 was undetectable in mitochondria from UCP3-KO mice. Nevertheless, UCP3-KO mitochondria had unchanged respiration rates, respiratory control ratios, and proton conductance compared with the wild type under a variety of assay conditions. We conclude that uncoupling in UCP3-tg mice is an artifact of transgenic expression, and that UCP3 does not catalyze the basal proton conductance of skeletal muscle mitochondria in the absence of activators such as superoxide.

Animals↗