The amino acid sequence of the 9 kDa polypeptide and partial amino acid sequence of the 20 kDa polypeptide of mitochondrial NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase.

Mitochondrial NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) is the most complicated enzyme in the respiratory chain and is composed of at least 26 distinct polypeptides. Two hydrophilic subfractions of bovine heart complex I were systematically resolved into individual polypeptides by chromatography. Three polypeptides (51, 24, and 9 kDa) were isolated from the flavoprotein fraction (FP) of complex I, and the complete amino acid sequence of the 9 kDa polypeptide was determined. The 9 kDa polypeptide is composed of 75 amino acids with a molecular weight of 8,437. This protein exhibits no obvious sequence similarity to other proteins. The iron-sulfur protein fraction (IP) of complex I was separated into eight polypeptides, 75, 49, 30, 20, 18, 15, 13 kDa-A, and 13 kDa-B. The 20 kDa polypeptide was recognized as a novel component of IP for the first time. The N-terminal and several peptide sequences of the 20 kDa polypeptide were determined. Comparison of the sequences revealed significant sequence similarities of the 20 kDa polypeptide to the psbG gene products encoded in the chloroplast genome. The conserved sequence in these proteins was also found in the small subunit of the nickel-containing hydrogenases. These results suggest that complex I is related to other redox enzyme complexes.