Abstract

Cytochrome c oxidase of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation system reduces molecular oxygen with redox equivalent-derived electrons. The conserved mitochondrial-encoded COX1- and COX2-subunits are the heme- and copper-center containing core subunits that catalyze water formation. COX1 and COX2 initially follow independent biogenesis pathways creating assembly modules with subunit-specific, chaperone-like assembly factors that assist in redox centers formation. Here we find that COX16, a protein required for cytochrome c oxidase assembly, interacts specifically with newly synthesized COX2 and its copper center-forming metallochaperones SCO1, SCO2, and COA6. The recruitment of SCO1 to the COX2-module is COX16 dependent and patient-mimicking mutations in SCO1 affect interaction with COX16. These findings implicate COX16 in CuA-site formation. Surprisingly, COX16 is also found in COX1-containing assembly intermediates and COX2 recruitment to COX1. We conclude that COX16 participates in merging the COX1 and COX2 assembly lines.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Abhishek Aich

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Cong Wang

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Arpita Chowdhury

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Christin Ronsör

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. David Pacheu-Grau

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Ricarda Richter-Dennerlein

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Sven Dennerlein

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Peter Rehling

    Department of Cellular Biochemistry, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
    For correspondence
    peter.rehling@medizin.uni-goettingen.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-5661-5272

Funding

H2020 European Research Council (ERCAdG No. 339580)

  • Peter Rehling

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB1002)

  • Peter Rehling

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Anna Akhmanova, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Version history

  1. Received: October 6, 2017
  2. Accepted: January 14, 2018
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: January 30, 2018 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: February 12, 2018 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2018, Aich et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Abhishek Aich
  2. Cong Wang
  3. Arpita Chowdhury
  4. Christin Ronsör
  5. David Pacheu-Grau
  6. Ricarda Richter-Dennerlein
  7. Sven Dennerlein
  8. Peter Rehling
(2018)
COX16 promotes COX2 metallation and assembly during respiratory complex IV biogenesis
eLife 7:e32572.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32572

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32572

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