title: Light-harvesting chlorophyll pigments enable mammalian mitochondria to capture photonic energy and produce ATP.
abstract: Sunlight is the most abundant energy source on this planet. However, the ability to convert sunlight into biological energy in the form of adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) is thought to be limited to chlorophyll-containing chloroplasts in photosynthetic organisms. Here we show that mammalian mitochondria can also capture light and synthesize ATP when mixed with a light-capturing metabolite of chlorophyll. The same metabolite fed to the worm Caenorhabditis elegans leads to increase in ATP synthesis upon light exposure, along with an increase in life span. We further demonstrate the same potential to convert light into energy exists in mammals, as chlorophyll metabolites accumulate in mice, rats and swine when fed a chlorophyll-rich diet. Results suggest chlorophyll type molecules modulate mitochondrial ATP by catalyzing the reduction of coenzyme Q, a slow step in mitochondrial ATP synthesis. We propose that through consumption of plant chlorophyll pigments, animals, too, are able to derive energy directly from sunlight.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Medical Center, Ophthalmology, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Doina M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Mihai
authors.forename: Ilyas
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Washington
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004032:Diet; D004372:Ducks; D005453:Fluorescence; D008322:Mammals / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D008930:Mitochondria, Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D017785:Photons; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000378:metabolism; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014020:Tissue Extracts; D014451:Ubiquinone; D002734:Chlorophyll; C040298:pyropheophorbide a; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; C024989:coenzyme Q10
keywords: ATP; Light; Mitochondria