Structure of mitochondrial complex I and conformational coupling between electron transfer and proton translocation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Volker Zickermann
• Subject Area: Structural Biology
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 186638795

Proton pumping NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (mitochondrial complex I) is a very large membrane protein with a key function in energy metabolism. We have accomplished the first X-ray crystallographic analysis of the complete eukaryotic enzyme complex comprising 40 subunits with a mass of almost 1 MDa. Structural information at higher resolution and extended functional characterization will be needed in the future to fully understand its mechanism. We plan to crystallize and determine the structure of stable and functional subcomplexes recently obtained in our laboratory and to use a structure guided fluorescence energy transfer (FRET) approach to investigate functionally critical structural changes during turnover of complex I.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Major Instrumentation: Fluoreszenzspektromeeter
• Instrumentation Group: 1850 Spektralfluorometer, Lumineszenz-Spektrometer (außer Filterfluorometer