Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : Adriamycin, an anthracycline glycoside antibiotic that inhibits the electron flow in mitochondria, also inhibits photosynthetic electron transport (PSI+PSII). The oxygen consumption curves suggest an inhibitory effect of PSII activity at very low adriamycin concentrations. Surface potential and differential scanning calorimetry measurements coupled with the use of tritiated daunomycin demonstrated that adriamycin interacts specifically with negatively charged thylakoid lipids, and induces a clustering of these negatively charged lipids in a neutral lipid matrix. These properties have made it possible to suggest a mechanism for the adriamycin-induced inhibition of mitochondrial enzymes (cytochrome c oxidase, NADH: cytochrome c oxidoreductase). We did not identify precisely the target responsible for the adriamycin effect in the thylakoid membrane, but the preliminary studies reported herein indicate evident similarities between the two inhibition mechanisms.