Synthesis by mitochondria

The measurement of ATP-synthesis rate is also very helpful to investigate phosphorylation processes in chromatophores, energy synthesis by mitochondria in plant and animal cells and metabolic changes in microorganisms. This method can give detailed information about cell membrane damage in cytolysis of erythrocytes and thrombocytes, which is an important factor in blood preservation and extraction of active blood products. BL estimation of ATP is well established in cell culture for tissue and organ transplants. 

Three toxicants that inhibit ATP synthesis by mitochondria are cyanide, aspirin, and carbon monoxide. ATP is the energy currency of the ceU ... 

FIGURE 25.16 Regulation of fatty acid synthesis and fatty acid oxidation are conpled as shown. Malonyl-CoA, produced during fatty acid synthesis, inhibits the uptake of fatty acylcarnitine (and thus fatty acid oxidation) by mitochondria. When fatty acyl CoA levels rise, fatty acid synthesis is inhibited and fatty acid oxidation activity increases. Rising citrate levels (which reflect an abundance of acetyl-CoA) similarly signal the initiation of fatty acid synthesis. 

In mammalian cells, the final stage of PS biosynthesis occurs in ER and MAM (Trotter and Voelker, 1994 Daum and Vance, 1997 Voelker, 2000). The other membranes in the ceU, such as mitochondria, nucleus, and plasma membrane, are therefore assembled from PS exported from ER and MAM (Figure 2). Phospholipid synthesis in mitochondria is restricted to the formation ofphosphatidylglycerol, cardiolipin, and PE, and other lipids such as PC and PS must be imported from sites of cellular lipid synthesis, ER or MAM (Daum, 1985 Vance, 1991). PS imported to the outer mitochondrial membrane is then translocated to the inner mitochondrial membrane, where it is converted to PE by PS decarboxylase (PSD) (Dennis and Kennedy, 1972 Voelker, 1990). It has been shown that the translocation of PS to mitochondria followed by its decarboxylation is a major pathway for the synthesis of PE in some cultured mammahan cells (Voelker, 1984 Kuge et al, 1986 Voelker and Frazier, 1986), suggesting that significant amounts of PE found in cell membranes are derived from mitochondria. 

Many enzymes in the mitochondria, including those of the citric acid cycle and pyruvate dehydrogenase, produce NADH, aU of which can be oxidized in the electron transport chain and in the process, capture energy for ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation. If NADH is produced in the cytoplasm, either the malate shuttle or the a-glycerol phosphate shuttle can transfer the electrons into the mitochondria for delivery to the ETC. Once NADH has been oxidized, the NAD can again be used by enzymes that require it. 

Macrolides bind to the SOS ribosomal subunit of bacteria but not to the SOS mammalian ribosome this accounts for its selective toxicity. Binding to the ribosome occurs at a site near peptidyltransferase, with a resultant inhibition of translocation, peptide bond formation, and release of oligopeptidyl tRNA. However, unlike chloramphenicol, the macrolides do not inhibit protein synthesis by intact mitochondria, and this suggests that the mitochondrial membrane is not permeable to erythromycin. 

Eugene Kennedy and Albert Lehninger showed in 1948 that, in eulcaiyotes, the entire set of reactions of the citric acid cycle takes place in mitochondria. Isolated mitochondria were found to contain not only all the enzymes and coenzymes required for the citric acid cycle, but also all the enzymes and proteins necessaiy for the last stage of respiration—electron transfer and ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphoiylation. As we shall see in later chapters, mitochondria also contain the enzymes for the oxidation of fatty acids and some amino acids to acetyl-CoA, and the oxidative degradation of other amino acids to a-ketoglutarate, succinyl-CoA, or oxaloacetate. Thus, in nonphotosynthetic eulcaiyotes, the mitochondrion is the site of most energy-yielding... 

Chemiosmotic theory readily explains the dependence of electron transfer on ATP synthesis in mitochondria. When the flow of protons into the matrix through the proton channel of ATP synthase is blocked (with oligomycin, for example), no path exists for the return of protons to the matrix, and the continued extrusion of protons driven by the activity of the respiratory chain generates a large proton gradient. The proton-motive force builds up until the cost (free energy) of pumping... 

How Many Protons in a Mitochondrion Electron transfer translocates protons from the mitochondrial matrix to the external medium, establishing a pH gradient across the inner membrane (outside more acidic than inside). The tendency of protons to diffuse back into the matrix is the driving force for ATP synthesis by ATP synthase. During oxidative phosphorylation by a suspension of mitochondria in a medium of pH 7.4, the pH of the matrix has been measured as 7.7. 

The electron transport chain is present in the inner mitochondrial membrane and is the final common pathway by which electrons derived from different fuels of the body flow to oxygen. Electron transport and ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation proceed continuously in all tissues that contain mitochondria. 

Synthesis of ATP by mitochondria is inhibited by oligomycin, which binds to the OSCP subunit of ATP synthase. On the other hand, there are processes that require energy from electron transport and that are not inhibited by oligomycin. These energy-linked processes include the transport of many ions across the mitochondrial membrane (Section E) and reverse electron flow from succinate to NAD+ (Section C,2). Dinitrophenol and many other uncouplers block the reactions, but oligomycin has no effect. This fact can be rationalized by the Mitchell hypothesis if we assume that Ap can drive these processes. 

Focusing on the mechanisms of action of BOA into the plant cell, Barnes et al.7 suggested that the chlorotic seedlings observed in the presence of BOA and DIBOA could be the consequence of a benzoxazinone effect on the photophosphorylation and electron transport into the plant metabolism. In this way, Niemeyer et al.28 studied the effects of BOA on energy-linked reactions in mitochondria and reported an inhibition of the electron transfer between flavin and ubiquinone in Complex I, with complete inhibition of electron transport from NADH to oxygen in SMP. They could also detect an inhibition of BOA on ATP synthesis by acting directly on the ATPase complex at the F1 moiety. 

S. E. Mansurova, S. A. Ermakova, R. A. Zvyagil skaya and I. S. Kulaev (1975b). The synthesis of inorganic polyphosphate by mitochondria of the yeast-like fungus Endomyces magnusii linked to the operation of the respiratory system (in Russian). Mikrobiologiia, 44, 874-879. 

Phosphorylation of ADP to ATP by mitochondria is driven by an electrochemical proton gradient established across the inner mitochondrial membrane as a consequence of vectoral transport of protons from NADH and succinate during oxidation by the respiratory chain (see Chapter 17). Hence, lipophilic weak acids or bases (such as 2,4-dinitrophenol) that can shuttle protons across membranes will dissipate the proton gradient and uncouple oxidation from ADP phosphorylation. Intrami-tochondrial ADP can be rate-limiting as demonstrated by inhibition of the mitochondrial adenosine nucleotide carrier by atractyloside. Inhibition of ATP synthesis... 

Proteins are targeted to various locations after synthesis by signal sequences. Thus, proteins destined for the ER, the mitochondria and chloroplasts have particular kinds of signal sequences at the N-terminus. ER-targeted proteins enter the ER directly off rough ER ribosomes via a signal recognition particle (SRP) complex that is linked to an SRP receptor and a ribosome receptor-transmembrane peptide translocation complex associated with the ER membrane. Within, the ER polypeptides are processed and folded and S—S links are formed. 

Electron chains. The respiratory chain and ATP synthesis in mitochondria demand the controlled flux of electrons. This target seems to be attacked by ellipticine, pseudane, pseudene, alpinigenine, sanguinarine, tetrahydropalmatine, CH3-(CH2)i4-2,6-methyl-piperidines, capsaicin, the hydroxamic acid DIMBOA, and solenopsine. As mentioned before, however, only a few alkaloids have been evaluated in this context (Table V). 

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