Publications

• Cu(II)-reduction by Escherichia coli cells is dependent on respiratory chain components.

  Volentini S.I., Farias R.N., Rodriguez-Montelongo L., Rapisarda V.A.

  Copper is both an essential nutrient and a toxic element able to catalyze free radicals formation which damage lipids and proteins. Although the available copper redox species in aerobic environment is Cu(II), proteins that participate in metal homeostasis use Cu(I). With isolated Escherichia coli ... >> More

  Copper is both an essential nutrient and a toxic element able to catalyze free radicals formation which damage lipids and proteins. Although the available copper redox species in aerobic environment is Cu(II), proteins that participate in metal homeostasis use Cu(I). With isolated Escherichia coli membranes, we have previously shown that electron flow through the respiratory chain promotes cupric ions reduction by NADH dehydrogenase-2 and quinones. Here, we determined Cu(II)-reductase activity by whole cells using strains deficient in these respiratory chain components. Measurements were done by the appearance of Cu(I) in the supernatants of cells exposed to sub-lethal Cu(II) concentrations. In the absence of quinones, the Cu(II)-reduction rate decreased ~70% in respect to the wild-type strain, while this diminution was about 85% in a strain lacking both NDH-2 and quinones. The decrease was ~10% in the absence of only NDH-2. In addition, we observed that quinone deficient strains failed to grow in media containing either excess or deficiency of copper, as we have described for NDH-2 deficient mutants. Thus, the Cu(II)-reduction by E. coli intact cells is mainly due to quinones and to a lesser extent to NDH-2, in a quinone-independent way. To our knowledge, this is the first in vivo demonstration of the involvement of E. coli respiratory components in the Cu(II)-reductase activity which contributes to the metal homeostasis. << Less

  BioMetals 24:827-835(2011) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]

• Characterization of an NADH-linked cupric reductase activity from the Escherichia coli respiratory chain.

  Rapisarda V.A., Montelongo L.R., Farias R.N., Massa E.M.

  Previous results from our laboratory have shown that NADH-supported electron flow through the Escherichia coli respiratory chain promotes the reduction of cupric ions to Cu(I), which mediates damage of the respiratory system by hydroperoxides. The aim of this work was to characterize the NADH-link ... >> More

  Previous results from our laboratory have shown that NADH-supported electron flow through the Escherichia coli respiratory chain promotes the reduction of cupric ions to Cu(I), which mediates damage of the respiratory system by hydroperoxides. The aim of this work was to characterize the NADH-linked cupric reductase activity from the E. coli respiratory chain. We have used E. coli strains that either overexpress or are deficient in the NADH dehydrogenase-2 (NDH-2) to demonstrate that this membrane-bound protein catalyzes the electron transfer from NADH to Cu(II), but not to Fe(III). We also show that purified NDH-2 exhibits NADH-supported Cu(II) reductase activity in the presence of either FAD or quinone, but is unable to reduce Fe(III). The K(m) values for free Cu(II) were 32 +/- 5 pM in the presence of saturating duroquinone and 22 +/-2 pM in the presence of saturating FAD. The K(m) values for NADH were 6.9 +/-1.5 microM and 6.1 +/-0.7 microM in the presence of duroquinone and FAD, respectively. The quinone-dependent Cu(II) reduction occurred through both O(*-)(2)-mediated and O(*-)(2)-independent pathways, as evidenced by the partial inhibitory effect (30-50%) of superoxide dismutase, by the reaction stoichiometry, and by the enzyme turnover numbers for NADH and Cu(II). The cupric reductase activity of NDH-2 was dependent on thiol groups which were accessible to p-chloromercuribenzoate at low, but not at high, ionic strength of the medium, a fact apparently connected to a conformational change of the protein. To our knowledge, this is the first protein with cupric reductase activity to be isolated and characterized in its biochemical properties. << Less

  Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 370:143-150(1999) [PubMed] [EuropePMC]