Function
NADH Dehydrogenase is the first enzyme (Complex I) of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. There are three energy-transducing enzymes in the electron transport chain - NADH dehydrogenase (Complex I), Coenzyme Q – cytochrome c reductase (Complex III), and cytochrome c oxidase (Complex IV). NADH dehydrogenase is the largest and most complicated enzyme of the electron transport chain.
The reaction of NADH dehydrogenase is:
- NADH + H+ + CoQ + 4H+in → NAD+ + CoQH2 + 4H+out
In this process, the complex translocates four protons across the inner membrane per molecule of oxidized NADH, helping to build the electrochemical potential used to produce ATP.
The reaction can be reversed - referred to as aerobic succinate-supported NAD+ reduction - in the presence of a high membrane potential, but the exact catalytic mechanism remains unknown.
Complex I may have a role in triggering apoptosis. In fact, there has been shown to be a correlation between mitochondrial activities and programmed cell death (PCD) during somatic embryo development.
Read more about this topic: NADH Dehydrogenase
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“My function in life is not to be a politician in Parliament: it is to get something done.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)
“The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)
“If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)