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Relative Contribution of Cytochrome-mediated and Cyanide-resistant Electron Transport in Fresh and Aged Potato Slices ¹

Department of Biology and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024

The respiration of fresh potato (Solanum tuberosum, var. Russet Burbank) slices is predominantly cyanide-sensitive whether in the presence or absence of uncoupler. By contrast, the wound-induced respiration which develops in thin slices with aging is cyanide-resistant, and in the presence of cyanide, sensitive to chlorobenzhydroxamic acid, a selective inhibitor of the cyanide-resistant respiration. Titration of the alternate path in coupled slices with chlorobenzhydroxamic acid, in the presence and absence of cyanide, shows that the contribution of the cyanide-resistant pathway to the wound-induced respiration is zero. Similar titrations with uncoupled slices reveal that the alternate path is engaged and utilized extensively.

The maximal capacity of the cytochrome path (V_cyt) has been estimated in fresh and aged slices in the presence of the uncoupler carbonyl-cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone. It has been found that V_cyt of aged slices is but 30 to 40% higher than that of fresh slices. The results suggest that the bulk of the wound-induced respiration is mediated through the cytochrome pathway which exists in fresh slices in suppressed form, and which is fully expressed by slice aging. The engagement of the alternate path by uncouplers in aged slices is attributed to an increase in substrate mobilization, with the result that the electron transport capacity of the cytochrome chain is exceeded.

¹ This work was supported by United States Public Health Service Grant GM 19807 to G. G. L.