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. 1980 Apr;65(4):755–759. doi: 10.1104/pp.65.4.755

Influence of Hydrogen Peroxide upon Carbon Dioxide Photoassimilation in the Spinach Chloroplast

I. HYDROGEN PEROXIDE GENERATED BY BROKEN CHLOROPLASTS IN AN “INTACT” CHLOROPLAST PREPARATION IS A CAUSAL AGENT OF THE WARBURG EFFECT 1,2

J Michael Robinson 1,3, Marsha G Smith 1, Martin Gibbs 1
PMCID: PMC440417  PMID: 16661273

Abstract

Photosynthesis and the Warburg effect (O2 inhibition of photosynthesis) were evaluated in preparations of intact spinach chloroplasts enriched with varying amounts of lysed chloroplasts. Increasing the ratio of broken to intact plastids resulted in decreased rates of CO2 assimilation.

Hydrogen peroxide when added at 10 or more micromolar also inhibited photosynthesis in these preparations. Inhibition of the photosynthetic rate by both factors was eliminated by addition of catalase. These findings indicate that H2O2 presumably generated by the broken chloroplasts was the causal agent of this inhibition.

The Warburg effect also became more pronounced by increasing the level of broken to intact chloroplasts. This effect was examined as a function of added catalase, pH, and O2 concentration. At 21% O2 and 0.44 to 0.68 millimolar CO2, catalase relieved the effect almost completely at pH 7.5, but at pH 8.3, the rate was restored only to about half or less of the control. At pH 7.6, 0.44 millimolar CO2, and 100% O2, the effect was only slightly overcome by catalase.

A rise in glycolate synthesis by the isolated spinach chloroplast has been shown previously to be coupled to an increase in pH and O2 (Kow, Robinson, Gibbs 1977 Plant Physiol 60: 492-495; Robinson, Gibbs, Cotler 1977 Plant Physiol 59: 530-534). At 21% O2, glycolate synthesis was not affected by the addition of catalase at pH 7.5 or 8.3. It is proposed that at 21% O2 and without some means of removing H2O2, that portion of the Warburg effect attributed to glycolate synthesis has been overestimated at pH values in the order of 7.5. In contrast, that portion of the Warburg effect which was, at alkaline pH, insensitive to catalase represented the stress placed upon the photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle which resulted from an enhanced synthesis of glycolate. At 100% O2 aeration and pH 7.5 to 8.5, the Warburg effect may also represent O2-mediated inhibition of a Calvin cycle enzyme within the intact plastid.

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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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