Energy conversion from nutrients to ATP is a vital process in cells. The process, called oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is performed by a combination of membrane-bound proteins. These proteins have been studied in great detail in the past, however much is still unknown about how they interact with each other. Studying the OXPHOS proteins in their native environment can be difficult due to the complexity of living cells. By isolating parts of the OXPHOS system and inserting them into membrane-mimetic systems it is possible to investigate their functions in a controlled environment.

In the work presented here, we co-reconstituted several of these proteins into liposomes made from synthetic lipids. We demonstrated production of ATP at steady-state conditions with the ATP synthase, driven by proton pumping by cytochrome bo₃. Introduction of anionic lipids decreased the coupled activity and we could correlate this effect to weaker interactions between ATP synthase and cytochrome bo₃ in the membrane. We also reconstituted cytochrome c oxidase (CytcO) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae with Respiratory supercomplex factor 1 (Rcf1) into liposomes and submitochondrial particles (SMPs). Loss of Rcf1 has previously been found to result in a lower CytcO activity. We found that activity could be restored upon co-reconstitution of CytcO with Rcf1, but only after unfolding and re-folding of the latter, which shows that Rcf1 can adopt two configurations in the membrane.