Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0038187 (starvation)
24,951 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The process of dark-induced senescence in plants is relatively poorly understood, but a functional electron-transfer flavoprotein/electron-transfer flavoprotein:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ETF/ETFQO) complex, which supports respiration during carbon starvation, has recently been identified. Here, we studied the responses of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants deficient in the expression of isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase and 2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase to extended darkness and other environmental stresses. Evaluations of the mutant phenotypes following carbon starvation induced by extended darkness identify similarities to those exhibited by mutants of the ETF/ETFQO complex. Metabolic profiling and isotope tracer experimentation revealed that isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase is involved in degradation of the branched-chain amino acids, phytol, and Lys, while 2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase is involved exclusively in Lys degradation. These results suggest that isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase is the more critical for alternative respiration and that a series of enzymes, including 2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase, plays a role in Lys degradation. Both physiological and metabolic phenotypes of the isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase and 2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase mutants were not as severe as those observed for mutants of the ETF/ETFQO complex, indicating some functional redundancy of the enzymes within the process. Our results aid in the elucidation of the pathway of plant Lys catabolism and demonstrate that both isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase and 2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase act as electron donors to the ubiquinol pool via an ETF/ETFQO-mediated route.
...
PMID:Identification of the 2-hydroxyglutarate and isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenases as alternative electron donors linking lysine catabolism to the electron transport chain of Arabidopsis mitochondria. 2050 10

Plant respiration mostly depends on the activity of glycolysis and the oxidation of organic acids in the tricarboxylic acid cycle to synthesize ATP. However, during stress situations plant cells also use amino acids as alternative substrates to donate electrons through the electron-transfer flavoprotein (ETF)/ETF:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ETF/ETFQO) complex to the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mETC). Given this, we investigated changes of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system in Arabidopsis thaliana cell culture under carbohydrate starvation supplied with a range of amino acids. Induction of isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase (IVDH) activity was observed under carbohydrate starvation which was associated with increased amounts of IVDH protein detected by immunoblotting. Furthermore, activities of the protein complexes of the mETC were reduced under carbohydrate starvation. We also observed that OXPHOS system activity behavior is differently affected by different amino acids and that proteins associated with amino acids catabolism are upregulated in cells following carbohydrate starvation. Collectively, our results support the contention that ETF/ETFQO is an essential pathway to donate electrons to the mETC and that amino acids are alternative substrates to maintain respiration under carbohydrate starvation.
...
PMID:Differential impact of amino acids on OXPHOS system activity following carbohydrate starvation in Arabidopsis cell suspensions. 2876 34

Autophagy is a highly conserved cellular mechanism in eukaryotes allowing the degradation of cell constituents. It is of crucial significance in both cellular homeostasis and nutrient recycling. During energy limited conditions plant cells can metabolize alternative respiratory substrates, such as amino acids, providing electrons to the mitochondrial metabolism via the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle or electron transfer flavoprotein/ electron transfer flavoprotein ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ETF/ETFQO) system. Our recent study reveals the importance of autophagy in the supply of amino acids to provide energy through alternative pathways of respiration during carbon starvation. This fact apart, autophagy seems to have more generalized effects related not only to amino acid catabolism but also to metabolism in general. By further comparing the metabolic data obtained with atg mutants with those of mutants involved in the alternative pathways of respiration, we observed clear differences between these mutants, pointing out additional effects of the autophagy deficiency on metabolism of Arabidopsis leaves. Collectively, our data point to an interdependence between mitochondrial metabolism and autophagy and suggest an exquisite regulation of primary metabolism under low energetic conditions.
...
PMID:Commonalities and differences in plants deficient in autophagy and alternative pathways of respiration on response to extended darkness. 2893 54

The vacuolar lytic degradation of proteins releases free amino acids that plants can use instead of sugars for respiratory energy production. Autophagy is a major cellular process leading to the transport of proteins into the vacuole for degradation. Here, we examine the contribution of autophagy to the amino acid metabolism response to sugar starvation in mature leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana. During sugar starvation arising from the exposure of wild-type (WT) plants to darkness, autophagic transport of chloroplast stroma, which contains most of the proteins in a leaf, into the vacuolar lumen was induced within 2 d. During this time, the level of soluble proteins, primarily Rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase), decreased and the amount of free amino acid increased. In dark-treated autophagy-defective (atg) mutants, the decrease of soluble proteins was suppressed, which resulted in the compromised release of basic amino acids, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and aromatic amino acids. The impairment of BCAA catabolic pathways in the knockout mutants of the electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF)/ETF:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (etfqo) complex and the electron donor protein isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase (ivdh) caused a reduced tolerance to dark treatment similar to that in the atg mutants. The enhanced accumulation of BCAAs in the ivdh and etfqo mutants during the dark treatment was reduced by additional autophagy deficiency. These results indicate that vacuolar protein degradation via autophagy serves as an adaptive response to disrupted photosynthesis by providing substrates to amino acid catabolic pathways, including BCAA catabolism mediated by IVDH and ETFQO.
...
PMID:Vacuolar Protein Degradation via Autophagy Provides Substrates to Amino Acid Catabolic Pathways as an Adaptive Response to Sugar Starvation in Arabidopsis thaliana. 2939 Jan 57