Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40021843›Full record

ArticleThe EMBO journal2025

Proton conductance by human uncoupling protein 1 is inhibited by purine and pyrimidine nucleotides.

Scott A Jones, Alice P Sowton, Denis Lacabanne, Martin S King, Shane M Palmer, Thomas Zögg, Els Pardon, Jan Steyaert, Jonathan J Ruprecht, Edmund R S Kunji

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The EMBO journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Scott A JonesMRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Keith Peters Building, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9991-5603
Alice P SowtonMRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Keith Peters Building, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-7783
Denis LacabanneMRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Keith Peters Building, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8911-3794
Martin S KingMRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Keith Peters Building, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6030-5154
Shane M PalmerMRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Keith Peters Building, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6457-0761
Thomas ZöggVIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology, VIB, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0454-4227
Els PardonVIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology, VIB, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium.
Jan SteyaertVIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology, VIB, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3825-874X
Jonathan J RuprechtMRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Keith Peters Building, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1838-7245
Edmund R S KunjiMRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Keith Peters Building, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, UK. ersk2@cam.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0610-4500

Funding

Instruct-ERIC/European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures PID: 1270UK National Electron Bio-imaging Centre (eBIC) BI31589-47UKRI | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) BB/Y002865/1UKRI | Medical Research Council (MRC) MC_UU_00028/2
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1, SLC25A7) is responsible for the thermogenic properties of brown adipose tissue. Upon fatty acid activation, UCP1 facilitates proton leakage, dissipating the mitochondrial proton motive force to release energy as heat. Purine nucleotides are considered to be the only inhibitors of UCP1 activity, binding to its central cavity to lock UCP1 in a proton-impermeable conformation. Here we show that pyrimidine nucleotides can also bind and inhibit its proton-conducting activity. All nucleotides bound in a pH-dependent manner, with the highest binding affinity observed for ATP, followed by dTTP, UTP, GTP and CTP. We also determined the structural basis of UTP binding to UCP1, showing that binding of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides follows the same molecular principles. We find that the closely related mitochondrial dicarboxylate carrier (SLC25A10) and oxoglutarate carrier (SLC25A11) have many cavity residues in common, but do not bind nucleotides. Thus, while UCP1 has evolved from dicarboxylate carriers, no selection for nucleobase specificity has occurred, highlighting the importance of the pH-dependent nucleotide binding mechanism mediated via the phosphate moieties.

Indexed as

ProtonsPurine NucleotidesPyrimidine NucleotidesUncoupling Protein 1HumansHydrogen-Ion ConcentrationModels, MolecularProtein BindingProtonsPurine NucleotidesPyrimidine NucleotidesUCP1 protein, humanUncoupling Protein 1BioenergeticsPyrimidine NucleotidesSLC25ThermogenesisUncoupling Protein

Identifiers

PMID40021843
PMCPMC12000319

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.