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Updated: Nov 27, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Techniques and Discoveries in Protein Synthesis and Assembly Through Innovative Mitochondrial Research
Published on: June 7, 2024
Epistasis-driven identification of SLC25A51 as a regulator of human mitochondrial NAD import
Enrico Girardi1, Gennaro Agrimi2, Ulrich Goldmann1
1CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
Abstract:
About a thousand genes in the human genome encode for membrane transporters. Among these, several solute carrier proteins (SLCs), representing the largest group of transporters, are still orphan and lack functional characterization. We reasoned that assessing genetic interactions among SLCs may be an efficient way to obtain functional information allowing their deorphanization. Here we describe a network of strong genetic interactions indicating a contribution to mitochondrial respiration and redox metabolism for SLC25A51/MCART1, an uncharacterized member of the SLC25 family of transporters. Through a combination of metabolomics, genomics and genetics approaches, we demonstrate a role for SLC25A51 as enabler of mitochondrial import of NAD, showcasing the potential of genetic interaction-driven functional gene deorphanization.
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