Biomaterial Database

Alternative pathway of respiration in Physarum polycephalum plasmodia. 1985

Z Baranowski

The external application of inhibitors of glycolysis in the presence of KCN shows a lethal effect on plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum. However, alpha-ketoglutarate, but not succinate, maintains the contraction-relaxation cycle of plasmodial actomyosin in spite of the fact that glycolysis and cytochrome oxidase are inhibited. The oscillations supported by ketoglutarate disappear in the presence of SHAM, an inhibitor of alternative oxidase. These results imply the existence of KCN-resistant, alternative pathway of electron transport in the mitochondria of Physarum polycephalum.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008928	Mitochondria	Semiautonomous, self-reproducing organelles that occur in the cytoplasm of all cells of most, but not all, eukaryotes. Each mitochondrion is surrounded by a double limiting membrane. The inner membrane is highly invaginated, and its projections are called cristae. Mitochondria are the sites of the reactions of oxidative phosphorylation, which result in the formation of ATP. They contain distinctive RIBOSOMES, transfer RNAs (RNA, TRANSFER); AMINO ACYL T RNA SYNTHETASES; and elongation and termination factors. Mitochondria depend upon genes within the nucleus of the cells in which they reside for many essential messenger RNAs (RNA, MESSENGER). Mitochondria are believed to have arisen from aerobic bacteria that established a symbiotic relationship with primitive protoeukaryotes. (King & Stansfield, A Dictionary of Genetics, 4th ed)	Mitochondrial Contraction,Mitochondrion,Contraction, Mitochondrial,Contractions, Mitochondrial,Mitochondrial Contractions
D010804	Physarum	A genus of protozoa, formerly also considered a fungus. Characteristics include the presence of violet to brown spores.	Physarums
D011190	Potassium Cyanide	A highly poisonous compound that is an inhibitor of many metabolic processes, but has been shown to be an especially potent inhibitor of heme enzymes and hemeproteins. It is used in many industrial processes.	Potassium Cyanide (K(14)CN),Potassium Cyanide (K(C(15)N)),Cyanide, Potassium
D002465	Cell Movement	The movement of cells from one location to another. Distinguish from CYTOKINESIS which is the process of dividing the CYTOPLASM of a cell.	Cell Migration,Locomotion, Cell,Migration, Cell,Motility, Cell,Movement, Cell,Cell Locomotion,Cell Motility,Cell Movements,Movements, Cell
D004579	Electron Transport	The process by which ELECTRONS are transported from a reduced substrate to molecular OXYGEN. (From Bennington, Saunders Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Laboratory Medicine and Technology, 1984, p270)	Respiratory Chain,Chain, Respiratory,Chains, Respiratory,Respiratory Chains,Transport, Electron
D006019	Glycolysis	A metabolic process that converts GLUCOSE into two molecules of PYRUVIC ACID through a series of enzymatic reactions. Energy generated by this process is conserved in two molecules of ATP. Glycolysis is the universal catabolic pathway for glucose, free glucose, or glucose derived from complex CARBOHYDRATES, such as GLYCOGEN and STARCH.	Embden-Meyerhof Pathway,Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas Pathway,Embden Meyerhof Parnas Pathway,Embden Meyerhof Pathway,Embden-Meyerhof Pathways,Pathway, Embden-Meyerhof,Pathway, Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas,Pathways, Embden-Meyerhof