The physiological role of MCF transporters from animals, plants and protists

Mitochondria import important metabolites via structurally related transporters, which are grouped in the "mitochondrial carrier family" (MCF). For most MCF transporters, however, the biochemical function, cellular localization and thus also the role in cellular metabolism have not yet been elucidated. Recent analyses have shown that MCF transporters mediate the import of important metabolic intermediates not only into mitochondria, but also into peroxisomes, glyoxisomes and plant plastids. Therefore, the localization of MCF proteins is not limited to mitochondria. We aim to characterize selected MCF transporters molecularly, biochemically and physiologically. Cellular localization will be determined by expression of reporter gene fusion constructs. Furthermore, development-dependent and, in the case of animal and plant transporters, tissue-specific expression of the candidate genes will be investigated. Biochemical characterization is carried out by means of transport studies on recombinant proteins. Physiological analyses of transgenic plants or yeast cells with a reduced content of the candidate protein will be used to elucidate the role of the transporters in metabolism.