YB-1 downregulation attenuates UQCRC1 protein expression level in H9C2 cells and decreases the mitochondrial membrane potential

UQCRC1 is one of the 10 mitochondrial complex III subunits, this protein has a role in energy metabolism, myocardial protection, and neurological diseases. The upstream mechanism of the UQCRC1 protective effect on cardiomyocytes is currently unavailable. In order to explore the upstream molecules of UQCRC1 and elucidate the protective mechanism of UQCRC1 on cardiomyocytes in more detail, we focused on the nuclease-sensitive elementbinding protein 1 (YB-1). We hypothesized YB-1 acts as an upstream regulatory molecule of UQCRC1. This study found that YB-1 RNAi significantly reduces the expression of the UQCRC1 protein level (p < 0.05) and obviously decreases the mitochondrial membrane potential (p < 0.05), and that YB-1 interacts with UQCRC1 protein in vivo, but YB-1 RNAi has little effect on the UQCRC1 gene transcription.