Mitochondria and chloroplasts as the original sites of melatonin synthesis: a hypothesis related to melatonin's primary function and evolution in eukaryotes
Citations
1,045 citations
728 citations
Cites background from "Mitochondria and chloroplasts as th..."
...If melatonin is proven to be synthesized in mitochondria and chloroplasts as we proposed [12], it would certainly be an advantage given that these organelles are major sites of free radical generation [49, 50] and melatonin has a potent capacity to limit the damage these toxic oxygen derivatives leave in their wake [51, 52]....
[...]
...throughout evolution such that all mitochondria-bearing cells of present-day unicellular and multicellular organisms presumably still possess the capacity to generate melatonin [12]....
[...]
...If melatonin is synthesized in both mitochondria [12, 60] and chloroplasts [61, 62], it could explain the generally much higher concentrations of this indole in plants than in animals, as the former have both organelles while the latter only possess mitochondria, except for some singlecelled ‘animals’....
[...]
624 citations
563 citations
457 citations
References
1,495 citations
1,454 citations
"Mitochondria and chloroplasts as th..." refers background in this paper
...It is well documented that, not only pinealocytes, but perhaps all cells and tissues produce melatonin [18], and this may be associated with the presence of mitochondria and chloroplasts....
[...]
...melatonin has been found in primitive bacteria, unicellular organisms, and green algae [18]....
[...]
...It is estimated that via the cascade reaction, one melatonin molecule may scavenge up to 10 free radicals [18], which contrasts with the classic antioxidants because they typically detoxify one radical per molecule....
[...]
1,409 citations
"Mitochondria and chloroplasts as th..." refers background in this paper
...On the basis of these observations, the extracellular origins of mitochondria and chloroplasts were proposed by L Sagan (nee, L Margulis) in 1967 [153]....
[...]
992 citations
733 citations
"Mitochondria and chloroplasts as th..." refers background in this paper
...Activation of UCP2 or UCP3 causes a moderate uncoupling and significantly lowers radical formation [124, 125]....
[...]