analysis of the polypeptide composition of bovine heart mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase by two-dimensional polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis

Purified preparations of Complex I (NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase) from bovine heart mitochondria may be resolved into 26 polypeptides by two-dimensional analysis combining isoelectric focusing and polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulphate. Similar analyses of the fragments obtained from chaotropic resolution of the enzyme show that each of these fragments contains a distinct and non-overlapping set of polypeptides. Evidence that the polypeptides seen in the intact enzyme are true constituents comes from analyses of immunoprecipitates obtained by allowing Complex I or solubilized submitochondrial particles to react with antisera directed against the whole enzyme and a subfragment of the enzyme.