How calcium regulates mitochondrial carrier proteins

Mitochondrial carriers are a family of proteins that play the key role of transporting a chemically diverse range of molecules across the inner mitochondrial membrane. Mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carriers are part of this family, and play a central role in human physiology, with roles in the malate–aspartate shuttle, urea cycle, gluconeogenesis and myelin synthesis. They are unique amongst the mitochondrial carrier family in having three domains - a calcium-regulated N-terminal domain, a mitochondrial carrier domain, and a C-terminal domain. Despite their importance, little is known about the structure of these proteins, or how calcium regulates their activity.

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