ABSTRACT
The sulfhydryl oxidase Erv1 partners with the oxidoreductase Mia40 to import cysteine-rich proteins in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Erv1 has also been implicated in cytosolic Fe-S protein maturation and iron regulation. To investigate the connection between Erv1/Mia40-dependent mitochondrial protein import and cytosolic Fe-S cluster assembly, we measured Mia40 oxidation and Fe-S enzyme activities in several erv1 and mia40 mutants. Although all the erv1 and mia40 mutants exhibited defects in Mia40 oxidation, only one erv1 mutant strain (erv1-1) had significantly decreased activities of cytosolic Fe-S enzymes. Further analysis of erv1-1 revealed that it had strongly decreased glutathione (GSH) levels, caused by an additional mutation in the gene encoding the glutathione biosynthesis enzyme glutamate cysteine ligase (GSH1). To address whether Erv1 or Mia40 plays a role in iron regulation, we measured iron-dependent expression of Aft1/2-regulated genes and mitochondrial iron accumulation in erv1 and mia40 strains. The only strain to exhibit iron misregulation is the GSH-deficient erv1-1 strain, which is rescued with addition of GSH. Together, these results confirm that GSH is critical for cytosolic Fe-S protein biogenesis and iron regulation, whereas ruling out significant roles for Erv1 or Mia40 in these pathways.
Subject(s)
Cytosol/metabolism , Glutathione/metabolism , Iron-Sulfur Proteins/metabolism , Iron/metabolism , Mitochondria/metabolism , Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins/metabolism , Mitochondrial Proteins/metabolism , Oxidoreductases Acting on Sulfur Group Donors/metabolism , Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/metabolism , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolism , Amino Acid Sequence , Glutamate-Cysteine Ligase/metabolism , Glutathione/deficiency , Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins/genetics , Mitochondrial Precursor Protein Import Complex Proteins , Mitochondrial Proteins/genetics , Molecular Sequence Data , Mutation , Oxidation-Reduction , Oxidoreductases/metabolism , Oxidoreductases Acting on Sulfur Group Donors/genetics , Protein Transport , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/ultrastructure , Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/geneticsABSTRACT
An ATP-binding cassette transporter located in the inner mitochondrial membrane is involved in iron-sulfur cluster and molybdenum cofactor assembly in the cytosol, but the transported substrate is unknown. ATM3 (ABCB25) from Arabidopsis thaliana and its functional orthologue Atm1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae were expressed in Lactococcus lactis and studied in inside-out membrane vesicles and in purified form. Both proteins selectively transported glutathione disulfide (GSSG) but not reduced glutathione in agreement with a 3-fold stimulation of ATPase activity by GSSG. By contrast, Fe(2+) alone or in combination with glutathione did not stimulate ATPase activity. Arabidopsis atm3 mutants were hypersensitive to an inhibitor of glutathione biosynthesis and accumulated GSSG in the mitochondria. The growth phenotype of atm3-1 was strongly enhanced by depletion of the mitochondrion-localized, GSH-dependent persulfide oxygenase ETHE1, suggesting that the physiological substrate of ATM3 contains persulfide in addition to glutathione. Consistent with this idea, a transportomics approach using mass spectrometry showed that glutathione trisulfide (GS-S-SG) was transported by Atm1. We propose that mitochondria export glutathione polysulfide, containing glutathione and persulfide, for iron-sulfur cluster assembly in the cytosol.
Subject(s)
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters/metabolism , Arabidopsis Proteins/metabolism , Conserved Sequence , Cytosol/metabolism , Glutathione/metabolism , Metals/metabolism , Mitochondrial Proteins/physiology , Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/metabolism , Sulfides/chemistry , ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters/chemistry , ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters/genetics , Adenosine Triphosphatases/metabolism , Amino Acid Sequence , Arabidopsis/genetics , Arabidopsis/metabolism , Arabidopsis Proteins/chemistry , Arabidopsis Proteins/genetics , Biological Transport , Glutathione/biosynthesis , Glutathione/chemistry , Molecular Sequence Data , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolism , Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/chemistry , Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/genetics , Sequence Homology, Amino AcidABSTRACT
The sulfur dioxygenase ETHYLMALONIC ENCEPHALOPATHY PROTEIN1 (ETHE1) catalyzes the oxidation of persulfides in the mitochondrial matrix and is essential for early embryo development in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We investigated the biochemical and physiological functions of ETHE1 in plant metabolism using recombinant Arabidopsis ETHE1 and three transfer DNA insertion lines with 50% to 99% decreased sulfur dioxygenase activity. Our results identified a new mitochondrial pathway catalyzing the detoxification of reduced sulfur species derived from cysteine catabolism by oxidation to thiosulfate. Knockdown of the sulfur dioxygenase impaired embryo development and produced phenotypes of starvation-induced chlorosis during short-day growth conditions and extended darkness, indicating that ETHE1 has a key function in situations of high protein turnover, such as seed production and the use of amino acids as alternative respiratory substrates during carbohydrate starvation. The amino acid profile of mutant plants was similar to that caused by defects in the electron-transfer flavoprotein/electron-transfer flavoprotein:ubiquinone oxidoreductase complex and associated dehydrogenases. Thus, in addition to sulfur amino acid catabolism, ETHE1 also affects the oxidation of branched-chain amino acids and lysine.
