Assembly of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) requires not only structural subunits for electron transport, but also assembly factors. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, NUAF-1 and NUAF-3 are the only two assembly factors that have been characterized. In this study, we identify ACDH-12 as an assembly factor of the respiratory complex I. We demonstrate for the first time that a deficiency of ACDH-12 affects the formation and function of complex I. RNAi knockdown of acdh-12 also shortens lifespan and decreases fecundity. Although ACDH-12 has long been recognized as a very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD), the knockdown nematodes did not exhibit any change in body fat content. We suggested that in Caenorhabditis elegans, ACDH-12 is required for the assembly of the respiratory complex I, but may not be crucial to fatty acid oxidation. Interestingly, sequence analysis shows high homology between ACDH-12 and the human ACAD9, a protein that has initially been identified as a VLCAD, but later found to also be involved in the assembly of complex I in human.
Keywords: ACAD9; ACDH-12; C. elegans; Complex I assembly factor; Very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase.
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