Supercomplex formation, between the multisubunit protein complexes responsible for mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (oxphos), is a concept first described in 1955, with important potential implications for energy and redox regulation, and a high rate of debate in current literature. However, empirical evidence to test this theory remains limited. We used recently-established crosslinking mass spectrometry methods to examine intact mitochondria from mouse heart, and discovered a highly interactive network between all pairs of oxphos complexes: we identified 206 unique intercomplex crosslinked lysine sites. Our data suggest that all five oxphos complexes coexist in close spatial proximity in intact mitochondria. The specificity of the crosslinks is demonstrated by a perturbation: 80% of the sites were sensitive to electrostatic disruption conditions, which we show to eliminate the supercomplexes as measured by conventional gel methods. 22 of our sites (7 of which were disruption-sensitive) were between the three complexes (I, III, and IV) that comprise the recent high resolution cryoEM structure and may be useful for refining models of this supercomplex, including evidence for alternate positions of complex IV and alternate interfaces between complexes I–III. In addition to intercomplex crosslinks, oxphos complexes were also interconnected with cytochrome c and shared chaperones/assembly factors. This result is part of a database of 3,322 unique crosslinks, covering 47% of the preparation's proteome; the most comprehensive visualization of the mitochondrial “interactome” to date. Our crosslinks have 98% agreement with consensus crystal structures, provide accurate sub-mitochondrial resolution, and suggest the mitochondrial localization of several novel proteins. All materials and methods are publicly available, using less than a milligram of protein input material, allowing researchers to map the mitochondrial interactome in health and disease with unprecedented depth. Support or Funding Information RSB and BMD are supported by the Division of Intramural Research, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This work was supported by Proteins@Work, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) as part of the National Roadmap Large-scale Research Facilities of the Netherlands (project number 184.032.201); the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (MSMed, grant agreement number 686547); and 7th framework programme (Manifold, grant agreement number 317371). Intercomplex interactions: a diagram of oxphos components, showing the number of unique lysine-lysine sites connecting them, as identified through DSSO crosslinking mass spectrometry of 4 native mitochondrial enrichment preparations, each from a wild type mouse heart. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
Read full abstract