Maintenance of Redox Homeostasis in Different Organelles
Maintenance of redox homeostasis is essential for preventing oxidative damage to biological molecules. The insufficient elimination of reactive oxygen species (ROS) may trigger cell death and as such might be a detrimental factor to human health and lifespan. To counterbalance ROS, cells in all domains of life have developed intricate ROS scavenging systems consisting of diverse antioxidant enzymes and small redox molecules. For many years, ROS had been considered to be only toxic molecules but it has become clear that often specific forms of ROS are deliberately generated and used as signalling molecules to control diverse cellular processes. Thus, cells have to strike a delicate balance of restricting the excessive generation of ROS by still allowing sufficient levels of ROS for signalling – and this with high spatiotemporal resolution.