As documented by E.V. Cowdry, there were nearly 100 names in the literature for mitochondria, or structures confused with mitochondria, ranging from A to Z. Cowdry is clearly exasperated with the complexity of nomenclature, writing that the complications and confusion are due to 'hasty individual action in elaborating new names, often only to discard them in a new paper in favour of some other'. However, as noted by Cowdry, determination of function required a greater knowledge of mitochondrial chemistry. The extension of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) studies to plants led to increasing interest in the transcriptional and translational machinery contained within these organelles. Plant mitochondria were shown to be a central part of maintaining efficient photosynthesis in the late 1970s, when they were identified as being the site for glycine oxidation. In C₃ plants, around 25% of photosynthetic output can be lost through the oxygenation reaction of Rubisco, which leads to the production of phosphoglycolate.