Functional Modules and Structural Basis of Conformational Coupling in Mitochondrial Complex I
01.07.2010
Hunte C, Zickermann V, Brandt U.
Science 329(5990):448-51
Energy contained in food is converted to the cellular energy currency ATP by a chain of macromolecular complexes. The architecture of the huge mitochondrial complex I was elucidated and an unknown mechanism of energy conversion by nano-mechanical coupling discovered. This is a major step towards understanding the mechanism of complex I, which is of special medical interest as its dysfunction is implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson´s or Alzheimer´s and also with the physiological processes of biological aging.
