Open Access

Kristian Kurt Parey, Outi Haapanen, Vivek Sharma, Harald Köfeler, Thomas Züllig, Simone Prinz, Karin Siegmund, Ilka Wittig, Deryck J. Mills, Janet Vonck, Werner Kühlbrandt, Volker Zickermann

• Respiratory complex I is a redox-driven proton pump, accounting for a large part of the electrochemical gradient that powers mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate synthesis. Complex I dysfunction is associated with severe human diseases. Assembly of the one-megadalton complex I in the inner mitochondrial membrane requires assembly factors and chaperones. We have determined the structure of complex I from the aerobic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica by electron cryo-microscopy at 3.2-Å resolution. A ubiquinone molecule was identified in the access path to the active site. The electron cryo-microscopy structure indicated an unusual lipid-protein arrangement at the junction of membrane and matrix arms that was confirmed by molecular simulations. The structure of a complex I mutant and an assembly intermediate provide detailed molecular insights into the cause of a hereditary complex I-linked disease and complex I assembly in the inner mitochondrial membrane.