Exploration of the cytochrome c oxidase pathway puzzle and examination of the origin of elusive mutational effects.

ABSTRACT: Gaining detailed understanding of the energetics of the proton-pumping process in cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) is a problem of great current interest. Despite promising mechanistic proposals, so far, a physically consistent model that would reproduce all the relevant barriers needed to create a working pump has not been presented. In addition, there are major problems in elucidating the origin of key mutational effects and in understanding the nature of the apparent pK(a) values associated with the pH dependencies of specific proton transfer (PT) reactions in CcO. This work takes a key step in resolving the above problems, by considering mutations, such as the Asn139Asp replacement, that blocks proton pumping without affecting PT to the catalytic site. We first introduce a formulation that m

SUBMITTER: Chakrabarty S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3055932 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature