Biochemical and physiological studies of Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic lines with repressed expression of the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase.

Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDHK), a negative regulator of the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (mtPDC), plays a pivotal role in controlling mtPDC activity, and hence, the TCA cycle and cell respiration. Previously, the cloning of a PDHK cDNA from Arabidopsis thaliana and the effects of constitutively down-regulating its expression on plant growth and development has been reported. The first detailed analyses of the biochemical and physiological effects of partial silencing of the mtPDHK in A.