Divalent Cation Stimulation of Substrate Oxidation by Corn Mitochondria

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The oxidation of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, malate-pyruvate, and succinate by corn mitochondria in buffered 0.2 m KCl was determined as a function of divalent cations. Ni2+, Mg2+, Co2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Sr2+, and Ba2+ stimulated reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidation in the absence of inorganic phosphate, with Ca2+ and Sr2+ having the greatest effect. Malate-pyruvate and succinate oxidation was stimulated by Ca2+, Ba2+, and Sr2+, but only in the presence of inorganic phosphate. Ca2+, Sr2+, and Ba2+ produced a simulated state 4 to state 3 transition with all three substrates, but only with malate-pyruvate and succinate was there a return to state 4. The order of divalent cation effectiveness suggests that the rate of water substitution from the cation inner coordination hydration sphere may be a rate-limiting step in certain mitochondrial reactions involving electron transport and phosphorylation.