The Merger of Bioenergetics and Molecular Biology

Mitochondrial ATP Synthesis in Permeabilized Cells: Assessment of the ATP/O Valuesin Situ

“…This could be also taken as an indication that such measurements made for 50 years (21,22) on isolated mitochondria are correct and not biaised by the isolation procedure itself. For the sake of historical truth it should be remembered that the first determination of an ATP/O ration was made by Ochoa on tissue homogenae (23), who found, taking great care of cytosolic hydrolysis, a value of 3 with pyruvate as respiratory substrate.…”

Mitochondrial genome function and maternal inheritance

“…Thus, if there is a benefit in having a mitochondrial genome, there is also, potentially, a serious and long-lasting cost [47] in the form of accumulated mis-coding of mitochondrial apoproteins that are correspondingly more likely to catalyse mutagenic single-electron transfers to oxygen. This 'vicious circle', of DNA damage giving protein damage giving more DNA damage [48], highlights what otherwise amounts to a 'design flaw' in aerobic, eukaryotic cells. Without the benefit of a redox autoregulatory system of the kind depicted in Figure 1, mitochondria are about the worst imaginable location in the cell to store a genetic system.…”

Ernster László. A bioenergetika tudósa, a tudomány diplomatája • Lars Ernster. Scientist of Bioenergetics and Diplomat of Science

“…Kutatásaiban nagy segítséget jelentett a spektrofotométer megjelenése, amellyel követni lehetett a vizsgált objektumok szerkezeti változásait. A későbbiekben sokat tett azért, hogy a bioenergetikát ötvözze a molekuláris biológia modern módszereivel (Ernster, 1994).…”