Open AccessChlamydomonas reinhardtii as a plant model system to study mitochondrial complex I dysfunction
Author(s) -
Subrahmanian Nitya,
Castonguay Andrew David,
Fatnes Thea Aspelund,
Hamel Patrice Paul
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plant direct
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.211
H-Index - 11
ISSN - 2475-4455
DOI - 10.1002/pld3.200
Subject(s) - chlamydomonas reinhardtii , chlamydomonas , mutant , biology , protein subunit , oxidative phosphorylation , oxidoreductase , mitochondrion , gene , genetics , mutation , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , enzyme
Abstract Mitochondrial complex I, a proton‐pumping NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase, is required for oxidative phosphorylation. However, the contribution of several human mutations to complex I deficiency is poorly understood. The unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was utilized to study complex I as, unlike in mammals, mutants with complete loss of the holoenzyme are viable. From a forward genetic screen for complex I‐deficient insertional mutants, six mutants exhibiting complex I deficiency with assembly defects were isolated. Chlamydomonas mutants isolated from our screens, lacking the subunits NDUFV2 and NDUFB10, were used to reconstruct and analyze the effect of two human mutations in these subunit‐encoding genes. The K209R substitution in NDUFV2, reported in Parkinson's disease patients, did not significantly affect the enzyme activity or assembly. The C107S substitution in the NDUFB10 subunit, reported in a case of fatal infantile cardiomyopathy, is part of a conserved C‐(X) 11 ‐C motif. The cysteine substitutions, at either one or both positions, still allowed low levels of holoenzyme formation, indicating that this motif is crucial for complex I function but not strictly essential for assembly. We show that the algal mutants provide a simple and useful platform to delineate the consequences of patient mutations on complex I function.