Peter D.

Mitchell
Peter Dennis Mitchell FRS[1] (29 September 1920 –
10 April 1992) was a British biochemist who was Peter Mitchell
FRS
awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his
theory of the chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP
synthesis.[2][3]

Education and early life

Mitchell was born in Mitcham, Surrey on 29
September 1920.[2] His parents were Christopher
Gibbs Mitchell, a civil servant, and Kate Beatrice
Dorothy (née) Taplin. His uncle was Sir Godfrey Way
Mitchell, chairman of George Wimpey.[1] He was
educated at Queen's College, Taunton and Jesus
College, Cambridge[1] where he studied the Natural
Sciences Tripos specialising in Biochemistry.

He was appointed a research post in the Department of Born Peter Dennis Mitchell
Biochemistry, Cambridge, in 1942, and was awarded a 29 September 1920[1]
Ph.D. in early 1951 for work on the mode of action of Mitcham, Surrey, England
penicillin.[4] Died 10 April 1992 (aged 71)
Bodmin, Cornwall, England
Alma mater University of Cambridge (BA, MA,
Career and research PhD)
Known for Discovery of the mechanism of
In 1955 he was invited by Professor Michael Swann to
ATP synthesis (chemiosmosis)
set up a biochemical research unit, called the Chemical
Biology Unit, in the Department of Zoology, at the Relatives Godfrey Way Mitchell (uncle)
University of Edinburgh, where he was appointed a Awards Rosenstiel Award (1976)
Senior Lecturer in 1961, then Reader in 1962, although Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1978)
institutional opposition to his work coupled with ill
Sir Hans Krebs Medal (1978)
health led to his resignation in 1963.[3]
Copley Medal (1981)
From 1963 to 1965, he supervised the restoration of a Scientific career
Regency-fronted Mansion, known as Glynn House, at
Fields Biochemistry
Cardinham near Bodmin, Cornwall - adapting a major
part of it for use as a research laboratory. He and his Institutions University of Edinburgh

former research colleague, Jennifer Moyle founded a Glynn Research Ltd.

charitable company, known as Glynn Research Ltd., to Thesis The rates of synthesis and
proportions by weight of the
promote fundamental biological research at Glynn nucleic acid components of a
House and they embarked on a programme of research Micrococcus during growth in
on chemiosmotic reactions and reaction normal and in penicillin containing
systems.[5][6][7][8][9] media with reference to the
bactericidal action of penicillin (htt
p://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/v
Chemiosmotic hypothesis webv/holdingsInfo?bibId=3526
In the 1960s, ATP was known to be the energy 0) (1950)
currency of life, but the mechanism by which ATP was Signature
created in the mitochondria was assumed to be by
substrate-level phosphorylation. Mitchell's
chemiosmotic hypothesis was the basis for
understanding the actual process of oxidative phosphorylation. At the time, the biochemical mechanism
of ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation was unknown.

Mitchell realised that the movement of ions across an

electrochemical potential difference could provide the energy
needed to produce ATP. His hypothesis was derived from
information that was well known in the 1960s. He knew that living
cells had a membrane potential; interior negative to the
environment. The movement of charged ions across a membrane is
thus affected by the electrical forces (the attraction of positive to
negative charges). Their movement is also affected by In chemiosmosis, ions move down
thermodynamic forces, the tendency of substances to diffuse from their electrochemical gradient
regions of higher concentration. He went on to show that ATP across a membrane.
synthesis was coupled to this electrochemical gradient.[10]

His hypothesis was confirmed by the discovery of ATP synthase, a membrane-bound protein that uses the
potential energy of the electrochemical gradient to make ATP; and by the discovery by André Jagendorf
that a pH difference across the thylakoid membrane in the chloroplast results in ATP synthesis.[11]

Protonmotive Q-cycle
Later, Peter Mitchell also hypothesized some of the complex details of electron transport chains. He
conceived of the coupling of proton pumping to quinone-based electron bifurcation, which contributes to
the proton motive force and thus, ATP synthesis.[12]

Awards and honours

In 1978 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contribution to the understanding of
biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory."[13] He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1974.[1][14]

References
Cornwall portal
1. Slater, E. C. (1994). "Peter Dennis Mitchell. 29
September 1920 – 10 April 1992". Biographical Memoirs
of Fellows of the Royal Society. 40: 282–305.
doi:10.1098/rsbm.1994.0040 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2
Frsbm.1994.0040). S2CID 72791163 (https://api.semanti
cscholar.org/CorpusID:72791163).
2. "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford
University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51236 (http
s://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F51236).
(Subscription or UK public library membership (https://www.
oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#public) required.)
3. Antony Crofts (1996). "Peter Mitchell (1920–1992)" (htt
p://www.life.uiuc.edu/crofts/bioph354/mitchell.html).
4. Mitchell, Peter Dennis (1950). The rates of synthesis and
proportions by weight of the nucleic acid components of
a Micrococcus during growth in normal and in penicillin
containing media with reference to the bactericidal action
of penicillin (http://hooke.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/bib_seek.c
gi?cat=man&bib=35260) (PhD thesis). University of
Cambridge.
5. Mitchell, P. (1966). "Chemiosmotic Coupling in Oxidative The discovery of ATP synthase
and Photosynthetic Phosphorylation". Biological vindicated Mitchell's hypothesis.
Reviews. 41 (3): 445–502. doi:10.1111/j.1469- Today, it is well-accepted that
185X.1966.tb01501.x (https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1469- chemiosmosis of H+ ions power the
185X.1966.tb01501.x). PMID 5329743 (https://pubmed.n synthesis of ATP, and other
cbi.nlm.nih.gov/5329743). S2CID 2073366 (https://api.se biochemical processes.
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:2073366).
6. Mitchell, P. (1972). "Chemiosmotic coupling in energy
transduction: A logical development of biochemical
knowledge". Journal of Bioenergetics. 3 (1): 5–24.
doi:10.1007/BF01515993 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF
01515993). PMID 4263930 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/4263930). S2CID 20251582 (https://api.semanticsch
olar.org/CorpusID:20251582).
7. Greville, G.D. (1969). "A scrutiny of Mitchell's
chemiosmotic hypothesis of respiratory chain and
photosynthetic phosphorylation". Curr. Topics
Bioenergetics. Current Topics in Bioenergetics. 3: 1–78.
doi:10.1016/B978-1-4831-9971-9.50008-0 (https://doi.or
g/10.1016%2FB978-1-4831-9971-9.50008-0).
ISBN 9781483199719.
8. Mitchell, P. (1970). "Aspects of the chemiosmotic
hypothesis" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
MC1185429). The Biochemical Journal. 116 (4): 5P –
6P. doi:10.1042/bj1160005p (https://doi.org/10.1042%2F
bj1160005p). PMC 1185429 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
ov/pmc/articles/PMC1185429). PMID 4244889 (https://p
ubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4244889).
 9. Mitchell, P. (1976). "Possible molecular mechanisms of the protonmotive function of
cytochrome systems". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 62 (2): 327–367.
Bibcode:1976JThBi..62..327M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1976JThBi..62..327M).
doi:10.1016/0022-5193(76)90124-7 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0022-5193%2876%299012
4-7). PMID 186667 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/186667).
10. Mitchell, P. (1961). "Coupling of Phosphorylation to Electron and Hydrogen Transfer by a
Chemi-Osmotic type of Mechanism" (http://www1.ci.uc.pt/pessoal/manolo/Mitchell.pdf)
(PDF). Nature. 191 (4784): 144–148. Bibcode:1961Natur.191..144M (https://ui.adsabs.harva
rd.edu/abs/1961Natur.191..144M). doi:10.1038/191144a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F1911
44a0). PMID 13771349 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13771349). S2CID 1784050 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:1784050).
11. Jagendorf A. T. and E. Uribe (1966). "ATP formation caused by acid-base transition of
spinach chloroplasts" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC285771). Proc. Natl.
Acad. Sci. USA. 55 (1): 170–177. Bibcode:1966PNAS...55..170J (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.
edu/abs/1966PNAS...55..170J). doi:10.1073/pnas.55.1.170 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpna
s.55.1.170). PMC 285771 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC285771).
PMID 5220864 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5220864).
12. Mitchell, Peter (15 November 1975). "The protonmotive Q cycle: A general formulation".
FEBS Letters. 59 (2): 137–139. doi:10.1016/0014-5793(75)80359-0 (https://doi.org/10.101
6%2F0014-5793%2875%2980359-0). ISSN 1873-3468 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/187
3-3468). PMID 1227927 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1227927). S2CID 45494306 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:45494306).
13. Peter Mitchell (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/251) on Nobelprize.org , accessed 11
October 2020} including the Nobel Lecture on 8 December 1978 David Keilin’s Respiratory
Chain Concept and Its Chemiosmotic Consequences
14. "Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660-2015" (https://web.archive.org/web/20151015185820/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128
gQR-NM/pubhtml). London: Royal Society. Archived from the original (https://docs.google.co
m/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml) on
15 October 2015.

External links
Peter Mitchell (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/251) on Nobelprize.org

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