Metabolic remodeling: a pyruvate transport affair
27.02.2015
Rampelt H, van der Laan M.
EMBO J. 2015 Feb 27. [Epub ahead of print]
The differential utilization of pyruvate is a central checkpoint in the cell's metabolic decision between cytosolic glycolysis for rapid proliferation and mitochondrial respiration for maximal ATP generation. A switch from respiration to aerobic glycolysis, the Warburg effect, is a hallmark of oncogenic transformation. A marked reduction of pyruvate import into mitochondria represents an important trigger for this metabolic transition. Yeast cells exhibit a similar switch from fermentative to respiratory metabolism, when shifted from glucose to glycerol-containing growth medium. This process is accompanied by the formation of different pyruvate carrier complexes in the mitochondrial inner membrane with distinct subunit composition and transport activities.
