The antimycin A-sensitive pathway of cyclic electron flow: from 1963 to 2015

TY - JOUR

T1 - The antimycin A-sensitive pathway of cyclic electron flow

T2 - from 1963 to 2015

AU - Labs, Mathias

AU - Rühle, Thilo

AU - Leister, Dario Michael

PY - 2016/9/1

Y1 - 2016/9/1

N2 - Cyclic electron flow has puzzled and divided the field of photosynthesis researchers for decades. This mainly concerns the proportion of its overall contribution to photosynthesis, as well as its components and molecular mechanism. Yet, it is irrefutable that the absence of cyclic electron flow has severe effects on plant growth. One of the two pathways mediating cyclic electron flow can be inhibited by antimycin A, a chemical that has also widely been used to characterize the mitochondrial respiratory chain. For the characterization of cyclic electron flow, antimycin A has been used since 1963, when ferredoxin was found to be the electron donor of the pathway. In 2013, antimycin A was used to identify the PGRL1/PGR5 complex as the ferredoxin:plastoquinone reductase completing the last puzzle piece of this pathway. The controversy has not ended, and here, we review the history of research on this process using the perspective of antimycin A as a crucial chemical for its characterization.

AB - Cyclic electron flow has puzzled and divided the field of photosynthesis researchers for decades. This mainly concerns the proportion of its overall contribution to photosynthesis, as well as its components and molecular mechanism. Yet, it is irrefutable that the absence of cyclic electron flow has severe effects on plant growth. One of the two pathways mediating cyclic electron flow can be inhibited by antimycin A, a chemical that has also widely been used to characterize the mitochondrial respiratory chain. For the characterization of cyclic electron flow, antimycin A has been used since 1963, when ferredoxin was found to be the electron donor of the pathway. In 2013, antimycin A was used to identify the PGRL1/PGR5 complex as the ferredoxin:plastoquinone reductase completing the last puzzle piece of this pathway. The controversy has not ended, and here, we review the history of research on this process using the perspective of antimycin A as a crucial chemical for its characterization.

KW - Journal Article

KW - Review

U2 - 10.1007/s11120-016-0217-2

DO - 10.1007/s11120-016-0217-2

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26781235

SN - 0166-8595

VL - 129

SP - 231

EP - 238

JO - Photosynthesis Research

JF - Photosynthesis Research

IS - 3

ER -