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Updated: Dec 23, 2025

Simultaneous Measurement of Superoxide/Hydrogen Peroxide and NADH Production by Flavin-containing Mitochondrial Dehydrogenases
Published on: February 24, 2018
Malate Circulation: Linking Chloroplast Metabolism to Mitochondrial ROS
Yannan Zhao1, Hong Yu1, Jian-Min Zhou2
1State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, and National Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Innovation Academy for Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Abstract:
In photosynthetic cells, chloroplasts and mitochondria are the sites of the core redox reactions underpinning energy metabolism. Such reactions generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) when oxygen is partially reduced. ROS signaling leads to responses by cells which enable them to adjust to changes in redox status. Recent studies in Arabidopsis thaliana reveal that chloroplast NADH can be used to generate malate which is exported to the mitochondrion where its oxidation regenerates NADH. Oxidation of this NADH produces mitochondrial ROS (mROS) which can activate signaling systems to modulate energy metabolism, and in certain cases can lead to programmed cell death (PCD). We propose the term 'malate circulation' to describe such redistribution of reducing equivalents to mediate energy homeostasis in the cell.
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