Mitochondria synthesize several hydrophobic proteins. Like bacteria, mitochondria initiate protein synthesis with an N-formylmethionine residue. Because N-formylmethionyl peptides have been found to be chemotactic for polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN), mitochondria isolated from cultured human cells and purified bovine mitochondrial proteins were tested for PMN chemotactic activity in vitro. N...

In higher plants, photorespiratory Gly oxidation in leaf mitochondria yields ammonium in large amounts. Mitochondrial ammonium must somehow be recovered as glutamate in chloroplasts. As the first step in that recovery, we report glutamine synthetase (GS) activity in highly purified Arabidopsis thaliana mitochondria isolated from light-adapted leaf tissue. Leaf mitochondrial GS activity is furth...

The de novo and salvage dTTP pathways are essential for maintaining cellular dTTP pools to ensure the faithful replication of both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Disregulation of dTTP pools results in mitochondrial dysfunction and nuclear genome instability due to an increase in uracil misincorporation. In this study, we identified a de novo dTMP synthesis pathway in mammalian mitochondria. Mit...

A comparative study of the transport of pyruvate in mitochon dria isolated from normal rat liver and from three tumors has been carried out. The Kmfor net pyruvate uptake in mitochondria isolated from Ehrlich ascites tumor cells is practically equal to that measured in normal rat liver mitochondria while, on the other hand, it is higher in Morris hepatomas 44 and 3924A. The Vm» of pyruvate upt...

The interaction of Ca2+ with Morris hepatoma 3924A mitochondria and its effect on the adenine nucleotide translocation have been studied. The characteristics of the Ca2+ transport process in mitochondria from Morris hepatoma are not significantly different from those of normal liver mitochondria. The Km for Ca2+ is 2 to 3 microM, and the rate versus concentration curve exhibits hyperbolic kinet...

Respiratory activities were compared among rice seedlings germinated in air for 6 days (aerobic seedlings), those germinated under water for 5 days (submerged seedlings), and those grown in air for 1 day after 5 days' submerged germination (air-adapted seedlings). The respiratory activity of the submerged seedlings increased rapidly on transfer to air and reached a plateau at 16 hours in air. R...

Chronic contractile activity of skeletal muscle induces an increase in mitochondria located in proximity to the sarcolemma [subsarcolemmal (SS)] and in mitochondria interspersed between the myofibrils [intermyofibrillar (IMF)]. These are energetically favorable metabolic adaptations, but because mitochondria are also involved in apoptosis, we investigated the effect of chronic contractile activ...

Contraction-factor (C-factor) is a specific heat-labile mitochondrial substance required in reversal of glutathione-induced swelling of mitochondria by ATP.1-3 It is detached from mitochondria on exposure to reduced glutathione but it can be recovered again from the suspending medium in active form; it is also found in sonic extracts of untreated mitochondria. On addition to glutathione-swollen...

M itochondria move around inside neurons to make sure they localize to whichever part of these highly polarized cells they are needed in. For example, mitochondria accumulate in active synapses to facilitate synaptic transmission by providing energy and buffering calcium levels. Chen and Sheng describe how the organelles are immobilized in response to synaptic activity (1). Mitochondria are fer...

It is well known that effective exchange of metabolites between mitochondria and the cytoplasm is essential for cell physiology. The key step of the exchange is transport across the mitochondrial outer membrane, which is supported by the voltage-dependent anion-selective channel (VDAC). Therefore, it is clear that the permeability of VDAC must be regulated to adjust its activity to the actual c...