Effects of proteolytic digestion by chymotrypsin on the structure and catalytic properties of reduced nicotinamide–adenine dinucleotide–ubiquinone oxidoreductase from bovine heart mitochondria

1. Incubation of NADH–ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Complex I) with chymotrypsin caused loss of rotenone-sensitive ubiquinone-1 reduction and an increase in rotenone-insensitive ubiquinone reduction. 2. Within the same time-course, NADH–K₃Fe(CN)₆ oxidoreductase activity was unaffected. 3. Mixing of chymotrypsin-treated Complex I with Complex III did not give rise to NADH–cytochrome c oxidoreductase activity. 4. Gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate revealed selective degradation of several constituent polypeptides by chymotrypsin. 5. With higher chymotrypsin concentrations and longer incubation times, a decrease in NADH–K₃Fe(CN)₆ oxidoreductase was observed. The kinetics of this decrease correlated with solubilization of the low-molecular-weight type-II NADH dehydrogenase (subunit mol.wts. 53000 and 27000) and with degradation of a polypeptide of mol.wt. 30000. 6. Phospholipid-depleted Complex I was more rapidly degraded by chymotrypsin. Specifically, a subunit of mol.wt. 75000, resistant to chymotrypsin in untreated Complex I, was degraded in phospholipid-depleted Complex I. In addition, the 30000-mol.wt. polypeptide was also more rapidly digested, correlating with an increased rate of transformation to type II NADH dehydrogenase.