HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 16, 15534-15543, April 22, 2005

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data All Versions of this Article: 280/16/15534    most recent M413315200v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Carroll, A. M. Articles by Porter, R. K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Carroll, A. M. Articles by Porter, R. K. Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Identification of a Functioning Mitochondrial Uncoupling Protein 1 in Thymus^*

Audrey M. Carroll, Lee R. Haines, Terry W. Pearson, Padraic G. Fallon, Caitríona M. Walsh, Clare M. Brennan, Eamon P. Breen, and Richard K. Porter¶

From the Department of Biochemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland and the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3P6, Canada

We present evidence that rat and mouse thymi contain mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP 1). Reverse transcriptase-PCR detected RNA transcripts for UCP 1 in whole thymus and in thymocytes. Furthermore, using antibodies to UCP 1 the protein was also detected in mitochondria isolated from whole thymus and thymocytes but not in thymus mitochondria from UCP 1 knock-out mice. Evidence for functional UCP 1 in thymus mitochondria was obtained by a comparative analysis with the kinetics of GDP binding in mitochondria from brown adipose tissue. Both tissues showed equivalent B_max and K_D values. In addition, a large component of the nonphosphorylating oxygen consumption by thymus mitochondria was inhibited by GDP and subsequently stimulated by addition of nanomolar concentrations of palmitate. UCP 1 was purified from thymus mitochondria by hydroxyapatite chromatography. The isolated protein was identified by peptide mass mapping and tandem mass spectrometry by using MALDI-TOF and LC-MS/MS, respectively. We conclude that the thymus contains a functioning UCP 1 that has the capacity to regulate metabolic flux and production of reactive oxygen-containing molecules in the thymus.

Received for publication, November 26, 2004 , and in revised form, January 18, 2005.

^* This work was supported by The Human Frontiers Science Programme Organization Grant RG307/98, Bioresearch Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, IRCSET, and by a Discovery grant (to T. W. P.) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains a figure.

^¶ To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Biochemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel.: 353-1-608-1617; Fax: 353-1-677-2400; E-mail: rkporter{at}tcd.ie.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V. Beck, M. Jaburek, T. Demina, A. Rupprecht, R. K. Porter, P. Jezek, and E. E. Pohl Polyunsaturated fatty acids activate human uncoupling proteins 1 and 2 in planar lipid bilayers FASEB J, April 1, 2007; 21(4): 1137 - 1144. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Frontini, S. Rousset, A.-M. Cassard-Doulcier, C. Zingaretti, D. Ricquier, and S. Cinti Thymus Uncoupling Protein 1 Is Exclusive to Typical Brown Adipocytes and Is Not Found in Thymocytes J. Histochem. Cytochem., February 1, 2007; 55(2): 183 - 189. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. P. Breen, S. G. Gouin, A. F. Murphy, L. R. Haines, A. M. Jackson, T. W. Pearson, P. V. Murphy, and R. K. Porter On the Mechanism of Mitochondrial Uncoupling Protein 1 Function J. Biol. Chem., January 27, 2006; 281(4): 2114 - 2119. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]