Abstract
Nitrodiphenyl ether herbicides cause a rapid light and oxygen-dependent pigment bleaching and peroxidation of unsaturated membrane lipids in leaves (1). These effects resemble those of methyl viologen, the action of which depends on an enhancement of superoxide formation by catalysing electron transfer from Photosystem I to oxygen (2). However, a number of observations indicate that the underlying mechanism in nitrodiphenyl ether (NDPE) toxicity is different from that of methyl viologen. In most cases, NDPEs do not enhance superoxide formation in experiments with isolated thylakoids (3). In experiments with intact tissue, the photosynthetic electron transport inhibitor DCMU provides a marked protection from methyl viologen, but, except in the case of the alga Scenedesmus obliquus, this is not seen with NDPEs (4, 5). Furthermore, chlorodiphenyl ether analogues of NDPEs which have the same herbicidal characteristics, have chemical properties which preclude radical formation by Photosystem I (6).
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