Publications

• Isolation and functional expression of human COQ3, a gene encoding a methyltransferase required for ubiquinone biosynthesis.

  Jonassen T., Clarke C.F.

  The COQ3 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes an O-methyltransferase required for two steps in the biosynthetic pathway of ubiquinone (coenzyme Q, or Q). This enzyme methylates an early Q intermediate, 3,4-dihydroxy-5-polyprenylbenzoic acid, as well as the final intermediate in the pathway, co ... >> More

  The COQ3 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes an O-methyltransferase required for two steps in the biosynthetic pathway of ubiquinone (coenzyme Q, or Q). This enzyme methylates an early Q intermediate, 3,4-dihydroxy-5-polyprenylbenzoic acid, as well as the final intermediate in the pathway, converting demethyl-Q to Q. This enzyme is also capable of methylating the distinct prokaryotic early intermediate 2-hydroxy-6-polyprenyl phenol. A full-length cDNA encoding the human homologue of COQ3 was isolated from a human heart cDNA library by sequence homology to rat Coq3. The clone contained a 933-base pair open reading frame that encoded a polypeptide with a great deal of sequence identity to a variety of eukaryotic and prokaryotic Coq3 homologues. In the region between amino acids 89 and 255 in the human sequence, the rat and human homologues are 87% identical, whereas human and yeast are 35% identical. When expressed in multicopy, the human construct rescued the growth of a yeast coq3 null mutant on a nonfermentable carbon source and restored coenzyme Q biosynthesis, although at lower levels than that of wild type yeast. In vitro methyltransferase assays using farnesylated analogues of intermediates in the coenzyme Q biosynthetic pathway as substrates showed that the human enzyme is active with all three substrates tested. << Less

  J. Biol. Chem. 275:12381-12387(2000) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

  This publication is cited by 3 other entries.