Heterologous Ferredoxin Reductase and Flavodoxin Protect Cos-7 Cells from Oxidative Stress

BACKGROUND: Ferredoxin-NADP(H) reductase (FNR) from Pisum sativum and Flavodoxin (Fld) from Anabaena PCC 7119 have been reported to protect a variety of cells and organisms from oxidative insults. In this work, these two proteins were expressed in mitochondria of Cos-7 cells and tested for their efficacy to protect these cells from oxidative stress in vitro. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Cos-7/pFNR and Cos-7/pFld cell lines expressing FNR and Fld, respectively, showed a significantly higher resistance to 24 h exposure to 300–600 µM hydrogen peroxide measured by LDH retention, MTT reduction, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and lipid peroxide (LPO; FOX assay) levels. However, FNR and Fld did not exhibit any protection at shorter incubation times (2 h and 4 h) to 4 mM hydrogen peroxide or to a 48 h exposure to 300 µM methyl viologen. We found enhanced methyl viologen damage exerted by FNR that may be due to depletion of NADPH pools through NADPH-MV diaphorase activity as previously observed for other overexpressed enzymes. SIGNIFICANCE: The results presented are a first report of antioxidant function of these heterologous enzymes of vegetal and cyanobacterial origin in mammalian cells.