A redox-mediated modulation of stem bolting in transgenic Nicotiana sylvestris differentially expressing the external mitochondrial NADPH dehydrogenase.

Cytosolic NADPH can be directly oxidized by a calcium-dependent NADPH dehydrogenase, NDB1, present in the plant mitochondrial electron transport chain. However, little is known regarding the impact of modified cytosolic NADPH reduction levels on growth and metabolism. Nicotiana sylvestris plants overexpressing potato (Solanum tuberosum) NDB1 displayed early bolting, whereas sense suppression of the same gene led to delayed bolting, with consequential changes in flowering time.

Oxidation and reduction of pyridine nucleotides in alamethicin-permeabilized plant mitochondria.

The inner mitochondrial membrane is selectively permeable, which limits the transport of solutes and metabolites across the membrane. This constitutes a problem when intramitochondrial enzymes are studied. The channel-forming antibiotic AlaM (alamethicin) was used as a potentially less invasive method to permeabilize mitochondria and study the highly branched electron-transport chain in potato tuber (Solanum tuberosum) and pea leaf (Pisum sativum) mitochondria.

Identification of a mitochondrial external NADPH dehydrogenase by overexpression in transgenic Nicotiana sylvestris.

The plant respiratory chain contains a complex setup of non-energy conserving NAD(P)H dehydrogenases, the physiological consequences of which are highly unclear. An expression construct for the potato (Solanum tuberosum L., cv.

Arabidopsis genes encoding mitochondrial type II NAD(P)H dehydrogenases have different evolutionary origin and show distinct responses to light.

In addition to proton-pumping complex I, plant mitochondria contain several type II NAD(P)H dehydrogenases in the electron transport chain. The extra enzymes allow the nonenergy-conserving electron transfer from cytoplasmic and matrix NAD(P)H to ubiquinone. We have investigated the type II NAD(P)H dehydrogenase gene families in Arabidopsis.