Oxidation of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate by plant mitochondria

Abstract

Mitochondria isolated from various plant tissues (leaves, etiolated shoots and hypocotyls, and stem tubers) oxidize exogenous NADPH with respiratory control values and ADP:O ratios similar to those obtained with exogenous NADH as substrate. In all the mitochondria investigated, the electron-transfer inhibitors rotenone and amytal each had the same effect on the oxidation of NADPH as they had on the oxidation of NADH. The oxidation of exogenous NADPH by white potato tuber mitochondria was much more sensitive to inhibition by citrate or ethylene glycol bis-(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N-tetraacetic acid than was the oxidation of NADH. Mitochondria isolated from aged beetroot slices showed an increased capacity for the oxidation of exogenous NADH (compared with mitochondria from fresh tissue) but no such increase in the capacity to oxidize exogenous NADPH. These results suggest that exogenous NADPH and NADH are oxidized via different flavoproteins in plant mitochondria.