Temperature dependence of respiration rates of leaves, 18O-experiments and super-Arrhenius kinetics

In a mitochondrion, respiration in the dark of Camellia Japonica leaves leads to carbon dioxide by consumption of oxygen, which is shown by isotope labeling to go exclusively into water: the two processes occur in areas separated by the inner membrane and are concerted by exchange of both electrons and protons. The observed larger-than-normal acceleration of the global process as temperature increases is in this Letter attributed consistently to the role of transport for the rate of coupling between oxygen reduction and carbon oxidation.