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My Fifty Years Association with Complex I Study

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A Structural Perspective on Respiratory Complex I
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Abstract

I summarized some key steps in my 50 years association with complex I study. First, discovered the absence of energy-coupling at complex I in domestic yeast. Then, found a close correlation among complex I energy-coupling, rotenone sensitivity and g = 1.94 iron-sulfur cluster. To scrutinize this correlation, I performed EPR at 4.2–40K, and detected signals from previously unknown multiple clusters in complex I of wild yeast and bovine heart in situ. Named them as N1a, N2, N3, N4, N5 and N1b. Discovered and characterized complex I counterpart in Escherichia coli, Thermus thermophilus HB-8, Paracoccus denitrificans in the membrane ­system, and made important foundation for the later structural studies by X-ray crystallographers. Characterized two protein-associated semiquinone species.

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my husband, S. Tsuyoshi Ohnishi, for his insightful discussions and encouragements during these 50 years.

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Correspondence to Tomoko Ohnishi .

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Ohnishi, T. (2012). My Fifty Years Association with Complex I Study. In: Sazanov, L. (eds) A Structural Perspective on Respiratory Complex I. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4138-6_5

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