Quinones are found in the lipid membranes of prokaryotes like E. coli and cyanobacteria, and are also abundant in eukaryotic mitochondria and chloroplasts. They are intricately involved in the reaction mechanism of redox phosphorylations. In the Mitchellian chemiosmotic school of thought, membrane-lodged quinones are perceived as highly mobile conveyors of two-electron equivalents from the first leg of Electron Transport Chain (ETC) to the ‘second pit-stop’ of Cytochrome bc₁ or b₆f complex (CBC), where they undergo a regenerative ‘Q-cycle’. In Manoj’s murburn mechanism, the membrane-lodged quinones are perceived as relatively slow-moving one- or two- electron donors/acceptors, enabling charge separation and the CBC resets a one-electron paradigm via ‘turbo logic’. Herein, we compare various purviews of the two mechanistic schools with respect to: constraints in mobility, protons’ availability, binding of quinones with proteins, structural features of the protein complexes, energetics of reaction, overall reaction logic, etc. From various perspectives, the murburn mechanism appeals as a viable alternative explanation well-rooted in thermodynamics/kinetics and one which lends adequate structure-function correlations for the roles of quinones, lipid membrane and associated proteins.

在原核生物如大肠杆菌和蓝细菌的脂质膜中发现醌，并且在真核线粒体和叶绿体中也丰富。它们复杂地参与氧化还原磷酸化的反应机理。在米切尔化学渗透学派的学派中，从电子传输链（ETC）的第一分支到细胞色素bc ₁或b ₆ f的“第二个进站”，膜沉积的醌被视为两电子等效物的高移动性输送器。复杂（CBC），他们经历了再生的“ Q周期”。在Manoj的Murburn机理中，膜沉积的醌被认为是移动相对较慢的一个或两个电子供体/受体，从而实现了电荷分离，并且CBC通过“涡轮逻辑”重置了一个电子范例。在此，我们比较两种机械学派在以下方面的各种观点：流动性的限制，质子的可用性，醌与蛋白质的结合，蛋白质复合物的结构特征，反应的能量学，整体反应逻辑等。从各个角度来看， murburn机制吸引人，是一种可行的替代性解释，其根植于热力学/动力学，并且为醌，脂质膜和相关蛋白的作用提供了充分的结构-功能相关性。