Identification and functions of new transporters in yeast mitochondria

The genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes 35 putative members of the mitochondrial carrier family. Known members of this family transport substrates and products across the inner membranes of mitochondria. We are attempting to identify the functions of the yeast mitochondrial transporters via high-yield expression in Escherichia coli and/or S. cerevisiae, purification and reconstitution of their protein products into liposomes, where their transport properties are investigated. With this strategy, we have already identified the functions of seven S. cerevisiae gene products, whose structural and functional properties assigned them to the mitochondrial carrier family. The functional information obtained in the reconstituted system and the use of knock-out yeast strains can be usefully exploited for the investigation of the physiological role of individual transporters. Furthermore, the yeast carrier sequences can be used to identify the orthologous proteins in other organisms, including man.