title: Structural analysis of cytochrome bc1 complexes: implications to the mechanism of function.
abstract: The cytochrome bc1 complex (bc1) is the mid-segment of the cellular respiratory chain of mitochondria and many aerobic prokaryotic organisms; it is also part of the photosynthetic apparatus of non-oxygenic purple bacteria. The bc1 complex catalyzes the reaction of transferring electrons from the low potential substrate ubiquinol to high potential cytochrome c. Concomitantly, bc1 translocates protons across the membrane, contributing to the proton-motive force essential for a variety of cellular activities such as ATP synthesis. Structural investigations of bc1 have been exceedingly successful, yielding atomic resolution structures of bc1 from various organisms and trapped in different reaction intermediates. These structures have confirmed and unified results of decades of experiments and have contributed to our understanding of the mechanism of bc1 functions as well as its inactivation by respiratory inhibitors. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Respiratory complex III and related bc complexes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: xiad@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Esser
authors.forename: Wai-Kwan
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yihui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Chang-An
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D004579:Electron Transport; D014450:Electron Transport Complex III / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D010743:Phospholipids; D021122:Protein Subunits; D014450:Electron Transport Complex III