Plant Mitochondrial Carriers: Molecular Gatekeepers That Help to Regulate Plant Central Carbon Metabolism
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
2
School of BioSciences, the University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
3
Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Plants 2020, 9(1), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9010117
Received: 19 December 2019
/
Revised: 14 January 2020
/
Accepted: 15 January 2020
/
Published: 17 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Regulation of Central Carbon and Amino Acid Metabolism in Plants)
The evolution of membrane-bound organelles among eukaryotes led to a highly compartmentalized metabolism. As a compartment of the central carbon metabolism, mitochondria must be connected to the cytosol by molecular gates that facilitate a myriad of cellular processes. Members of the mitochondrial carrier family function to mediate the transport of metabolites across the impermeable inner mitochondrial membrane and, thus, are potentially crucial for metabolic control and regulation. Here, we focus on members of this family that might impact intracellular central plant carbon metabolism. We summarize and review what is currently known about these transporters from in vitro transport assays and in planta physiological functions, whenever available. From the biochemical and molecular data, we hypothesize how these relevant transporters might play a role in the shuttling of organic acids in the various flux modes of the TCA cycle. Furthermore, we also review relevant mitochondrial carriers that may be vital in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Lastly, we survey novel experimental approaches that could possibly extend and/or complement the widely accepted proteoliposome reconstitution approach.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
MCF; TCA cycle; oxidative phosphorylation; mitochondrial carriers; transporters
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Toleco, M.R.; Naake, T.; Zhang, Y.; Heazlewood, J.L.; Fernie, A.R. Plant Mitochondrial Carriers: Molecular Gatekeepers That Help to Regulate Plant Central Carbon Metabolism. Plants 2020, 9, 117. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9010117
AMA Style
Toleco MR, Naake T, Zhang Y, Heazlewood JL, Fernie AR. Plant Mitochondrial Carriers: Molecular Gatekeepers That Help to Regulate Plant Central Carbon Metabolism. Plants. 2020; 9(1):117. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9010117
Chicago/Turabian StyleToleco, M. R., Thomas Naake, Youjun Zhang, Joshua L. Heazlewood, and Alisdair R. Fernie. 2020. "Plant Mitochondrial Carriers: Molecular Gatekeepers That Help to Regulate Plant Central Carbon Metabolism" Plants 9, no. 1: 117. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9010117
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
