The role of mitochondrial transport in energy metabolism

Since mitochondria are closed spaces in the cell, metabolite traffic across the mitochondrial membrane is needed to accomplish energy metabolism. The mitochondrial carriers play this function by uniport, symport and antiport processes. We give here a survey of about 50 transport processes catalysed by more than 30 carriers with a survey of the methods used to investigate metabolite transport in isolated mammalian mitochondria. The role of mitochondria in metabolic pathways including ammoniogenesis, aminoacid metabolism, mitochondrial shuttles etc. is also reported in more detail, mainly in the light of the existence of new transport processes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. and Mitochondria Research Society. All rights reserved.