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NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase activity in the kinetoplasts of the plant trypanosomatid Phytomonas serpens

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Abstract

NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase activity is present in mitochondrial lysates of Phytomonas serpens. Rotenone at 2–10 μM inhibited the activity 50–75%, indicating that it belongs to respiratory complex I. The activity was also inhibited 50–60% in the presence of 10–30 nM atovaquone suggesting that inhibition of complex I represents a likely mechanism of the known antileishmanial activity of this drug. The complex was partially purified by chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B and gel-filtration on Sepharose CL-2B. The NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase activity in this preparation was completely inactivated by 20 nM atovaquone. The partially purified complex was present in a low amount and its subunits could not be discerned by staining with Coomassie. However, one of its components, a homologue of the 39 kDa subunit of the bovine complex I, was identified immunochemically in the original lysate and in the partially purified material.

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Fig. 1A, B
Fig. 2A, B
Fig. 3A–C

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Acknowledgements

We thank GlaxoWellcome for the gift of atovaquone. We also thank M. Neboháčová for discussions and A. Reyes-Prieto for help with the double reciprocal plots. The work was supported by a UC-MEXUS-CONACYT grant to D.A.M. and D.G-H. and by a grant from the UCR Genomics Institute Core Instrumentation Facility to D.A.M. All experiments presented in this work comply with the current U.S. laws.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of California, 3401 Watkins Drive, Riverside, CA 92521, USA

    Diego González-Halphen & Dmitri A. Maslov

  2. Departamento de Genética Molecular, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Diego González-Halphen

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  1. Diego González-Halphen
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  2. Dmitri A. Maslov
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Correspondence to Dmitri A. Maslov.

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González-Halphen, D., Maslov, D.A. NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase activity in the kinetoplasts of the plant trypanosomatid Phytomonas serpens . Parasitol Res 92, 341–346 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-1058-4

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