In higher plants, various developmental and environmental conditions enhance expression of the alternative oxidase (AOX), whereas its induction in fungi is mainly dependent on cytochrome pathway restriction and triggering by reactive oxygen species. The AOX of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is encoded by two different genes, the Aox1 gene being much more transcribed than A...

The aim of this study was to explore the role of the mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX) in the protection of photosynthesis during drought in wheat leaves. The relative water contents of water-replete and drought-exposed wheat plants were 97.2+/-0.3 and 75+/-2, respectively. Drought increased the amount of leaf AOX protein and also enhanced the rate of AOX-dependent O(2) uptake by the resp...

Alternative oxidase (AOX) is a mitochondrial protein encoded by the nuclear genome. In higher plants AOX genes form a small multigene family mostly consisting of the two subfamilies AOX1 and AOX2. Daucus carota L. is characterized by a unique extension pattern of AOX genes. Different from other plant species studied so far it contains two genes in both subfamilies. Therefore, carrot was recentl...

Microsporidia are a group of obligate intracellular parasitic eukaryotes that were considered to be amitochondriate until the recent discovery of highly reduced mitochondrial organelles called mitosomes. Analysis of the complete genome of Encephalitozoon cuniculi revealed a highly reduced set of proteins in the organelle, mostly related to the assembly of iron-sulphur clusters. Oxidative phosph...

Plant alternative oxidase (AOX) is a mitochondrial inner membrane enzyme involved in alternative respiration. The critical importance of the enzyme during acclimation upon stress of plant cells is not fully understood and is still an issue of intensive research and discussion. Recently, a role of AOX was suggested for the ability of plant cells to change easily its fate upon stress. In order to...

Cyanide-resistant non-phosphorylating respiration is known in mitochondria from plants, fungi, and microorganisms but is absent in mammals. It results from the activity of an alternative oxidase (AOX) that conveys electrons directly from the respiratory chain (RC) ubiquinol pool to oxygen. AOX thus provides a bypath that releases constraints on the cytochrome pathway and prevents the over-reduc...

By using cDNA microarrays, we studied the expression profiles of 26 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) developing spontaneously in peroxisomal fatty acyl-CoA oxidase null (AOX-/-) mice. The development of liver tumors in AOX-/- mice is due to sustained activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) by the unmetabolized substrates of AOX, which serve as natural PPARalpha...

Phosphate starvation compromises electron flow through the cytochrome pathway of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, and plants commonly respond to phosphate deprivation by increasing flow through the alternative oxidase (AOX). To test whether this response is linked to the increase in nitric oxide (NO) production that also increases under phosphate starvation, Arabidopsis thaliana seed...

Effects of brassinosteroids (BRs) on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) abiotic stresses resistance to salt, polyethylene glycol (PEG), cold and the potential mechanisms were investigated in this work. Previous reports have indicated that BRs can induce ethylene production and enhance alternative oxidase (AOX) pathway. The mechanisms whether ethylene is involved as a signal molecule which connected ...