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. 1981 Dec;68(6):1211–1217. doi: 10.1104/pp.68.6.1211

The Effect of Rotenone on Respiration in Pea Cotyledon Mitochondria 1

Anne M Johnson-Flanagan 1, Mary S Spencer 1
PMCID: PMC426075  PMID: 16662080

Abstract

Respiration utilizing NAD-linked substrates in mitochondria isolated from cotyledons of etiolated peas (Pisum sativum L. var. Homesteader) by sucrose density gradient centrifugation exhibited resistance to rotenone. The inhibited rate of α-ketoglutarate oxidation was equivalent to the recovered rate of malate oxidation. (The recovered rate is the rate following the transient inhibition by rotenone.) The inhibitory effect of rotenone on malate oxidation increased with increasing respiratory control ratios as the mitochondria developed. The cyanide-resistant and rotenone-resistant pathways followed different courses of development as cotyledons aged. The rotenone-resistant pathway transferred reducing equivalents to the cyanide-sensitive pathway. Malic enzyme was found to be inhibited competitively with respect to NAD by rotenone concentrations as low as 1.67 micromolar. In pea cotyledon mitochondria, rotenone was transformed into elliptone. This reduced its inhibitory effect on intact mitochondria. Malate dehydrogenase was not affected by rotenone or elliptone. However, elliptone inhibited malic enzyme to the same extent that rotenone did when NAD was the cofactor. The products of malate oxidation reflected the interaction between malic enzyme and malate dehydrogenase. Rotenone also inhibited the NADH dehydrogenase associated with malate dehydrogenase. Thus, rotenone seemed to exert its inhibitory effect on two enzymes of the electron transport chain of pea cotyledon mitochondria.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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