Okada K, Kainou T, Matsuda H, Kawamukai M
Department of Applied Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan.
FEBS Lett. 1998 Jul 17;431(2):241-4. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)00753-4.
Ubiquinone (UQ), an important component of the electron transfer system, is constituted of a quinone structure and a side chain isoprenoid. The side chain length of UQ differs between microorganisms, and this difference has been used for taxonomic study. In this study, we have addressed the importance of the length of the side chain of UQ for cells, and examined the effect of chain length by producing UQs with isoprenoid chain lengths between 5 and 10 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To make the different UQ species, different types of prenyl diphosphate synthases were expressed in a S. cerevisiae COQ1 mutant defective for hexaprenyl diphosphate synthesis. As a result, we found that the original species of UQ (in this case UQ-6) had maximum functionality. However, we found that other species of UQ could replace UQ-6. Thus a broad spectrum of different UQ species are biologically functional in yeast cells, although cells seem to display a preference for their own particular type of UQ.
泛醌（UQ）是电子传递系统的重要组成部分，由醌结构和侧链类异戊二烯构成。不同微生物中泛醌的侧链长度不同，这种差异已被用于分类学研究。在本研究中，我们探讨了泛醌侧链长度对细胞的重要性，并通过在酿酒酵母中产生异戊二烯链长度在5至10之间的泛醌来研究链长度的影响。为了制备不同的泛醌种类，在缺乏六异戊二烯二磷酸合成的酿酒酵母COQ1突变体中表达了不同类型的异戊二烯二磷酸合酶。结果，我们发现原始的泛醌种类（在这种情况下为UQ-6）具有最大的功能。然而，我们发现其他泛醌种类可以替代UQ-6。因此，尽管细胞似乎对自身特定类型的泛醌表现出偏好，但多种不同的泛醌种类在酵母细胞中都具有生物学功能。
