Atractyloside Inhibition of Adenine Nucleotide Translocation in Mitochondria from Hypocotyls of Vigna sinensis cv. Seridó

The translocation of adenine nucleotides into mitochondria isolated from hypocotyls of Vigna sinensis (L.) Savi cv. Serido was examined as a function of oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondria membrane integrity was assessed by respiratory control and ADP:O ratios. A kinetic analysis of the translocation of adenosine diphosphate into the mitochondria revealed that the mechanism of translocation obeys classical Michaclis-Menten kinetics with a Km of 25 μM for adenosine diphosphate. At moderate ratios of atraetyloside to adenosine diphosphate (lower than 0.03), atractyloside appears to be a competitive inhibitor of the translocation process, with a Ki of 0.4 μM. However, non-linear kinetic parameters are observed with ratios higher than 0.06. A concentration of 2.5 μM atractyloside is sufficient to reduce the translocation of 100 μm ADP by 50%. This represents a higher level of sensitivity to atractyloside than reported for other plants.