The Microelectrophoretic Behaviour of Plant Mitochondria compared with Rat Mitochondria

The electrophoretic behaviour of mitochondria from kidney and liver of rats

“…The presence of an isoelectric point indicates that each surface contains both acidic and basic groups. This agrees with the findings of Douglas et al (1963), who obtained an isoelectric point of about pH4-2 for rat-liver, bean and cauliflower mitochondria. As these authors have shown that mitochondria prepared from such diverse sources all contain similar surface charged groups, so in this present study similar ionogenic groups have been found on rat-kidney and rat-liver mitochondria.…”

“…Since the ionogenic groups might be involved in the binding of hormones to the membrane it was decided to investigate the surface of kidney and liver mitochondria, by using the technique of micro-electrophoresis. This technique has been used frequently to study the nature of the surface components of many biological particles (James, 1957;Brinton & Lauffer, 1959), but mitochondria have not been studied in any detail (Douglas, Laycock & Boulter, 1963). A preliminary account of this work has been presented at a meeting of The Biochemical Society (Plummer, 1964).…”

Proceedings of The Biochemical Society

“…Measurement of the mobility at different pH values and constant ionic strength (0-125m-KCI-0 02M-barbitone-acetate-sodium chloride buffer) indicated that rat kidney and liver mitochondria contain similar surface ionogenic groups, which agrees with Douglas, Laycock & Boulter's (1963) observations on mitochondria from bean, cauliflower and rat liver. The surfaces of the various mitochondria studied differ only in the net negative charge and not in any large difference in composition of the surface charged groups; also, in spite of the heterogeneous nature of the tissues studied, the mitochondria from each tissue gave a homogeneous distribution of mobility values.…”

Electrophoresis

“…Among plant proteins that have been fractionated are those from (2118), pea root segments (1333), pea seedlings (2128), pea plants (689), soybeans (911,2179), various legumes (772), vetch and alfalfa (1232), potatoes (1295,1320), peanuts (2243), onion and garlic seeds (1228), cucumber seeds (34), sesame seeds (1935), poppy seeds (1124), pine seeds (1098), pollen (210, 851), and miscellaneous plant substances (1492, 1708,1930,2061,2171,2228). Other plant substances that have been investigated are allergens from castor beans (1281,1555,2109) and from rye grass pollen (1030), corn enzymes (159), phytohemagglutinins from jackbeans (1601) and lilies (1749), amino acids (168, 1585), pigments from beets (1783) and cactus fruit (602,603), xyIans f rom grains (558), polysaccharides from soybeans (1548), saponin from tea (877), lignin sulfonates (116, 2451), 14C-labeled photosynthesis products from algae (1884), hyoscyamine and scopolamine (1130) and solasonine and solamargine (1924) from nightshade, poisons from Amanita ( 286), products from herbaceous vines ( 1427), a uridylic acid-like substance from flowers (2244), chloroplastin ( 1422), chlorophyll derivatives (1014), plant organelles (549,821,864), and heavy ...…”