Citrate uniport by the mitochondrial tricarboxylate carrier: a basis for a new hypothesis for the transport mechanism

Extracellular citrate and metabolic adaptations of cancer cells

It is well established that cancer cells acquire energy via the Warburg effect and oxidative phosphorylation. Citrate is considered to play a crucial role in cancer metabolism by virtue of its production in the reverse Krebs cycle from glutamine. Here, we review the evidence that extracellular citrate is one of the key metabolites of the metabolic pathways present in cancer cells. We review the different mechanisms by which pathways involved in keeping redox balance respond to the need of intracellular citrate synthesis under different extracellular metabolic conditions. In this context, we further discuss the hypothesis that extracellular citrate plays a role in switching between oxidative phosphorylation and the Warburg effect while citrate uptake enhances metastatic activities and therapy resistance. We also present the possibility that organs rich in citrate such as the liver, brain and bones might form a perfect niche for the secondary tumour growth and improve survival of colonising cancer cells. Consistently, metabolic support provided by cancer-associated and senescent cells is also discussed. Finally, we highlight evidence on the role of citrate on immune cells and its potential to modulate the biological functions of pro- and anti-tumour immune cells in the tumour microenvironment. Collectively, we review intriguing evidence supporting the potential role of extracellular citrate in the regulation of the overall cancer metabolism and metastatic activity.

The Regulation of Non-Specific Membrane Permeability Transition in Yeast Mitochondria under Oxidative Stress

In this study, the mechanism of non-specific membrane permeability (yPTP) in the Endomyces magnusii yeast mitochondria under oxidative stress due to blocking the key antioxidant enzymes has been investigated. We used monitoring the membrane potential at the cellular (potential-dependent staining) and mitochondrial levels and mitochondria ultra-structural images with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to demonstrate the mitochondrial permeability transition induction due to the pore opening. Analysis of the yPTP opening upon respiring different substrates showed that NAD(P)H completely blocked the development of the yPTP. The yPTP opening was inhibited by 5–20 mM Pi, 5 mM Mg2+, adenine nucleotides (AN), 5 mM GSH, the inhibitor of the Pi transporter (PiC), 100 μM mersalyl, the blockers of the adenine nucleotide transporter (ANT) carboxyatractyloside (CATR), and bongkrekic acid (BA). We concluded that the non-specific membrane permeability pore opens in the E. magnusii mitochondria under oxidative stress, and the ANT and PiC are involved in its formation. The crucial role of the Ca2+ ions in the process has not been confirmed. We showed that the Ca2+ ions affected the yPTP both with and without the Ca2+ ionophore ETH129 application insignificantly. This phenomenon in the E. magnusii yeast unites both mitochondrial unselective channel (ScMUC) features in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondria and the classical membrane pore in the mammalian ones (mPTP).

Mersalyl prevents the Tl+-induced permeability transition pore opening in the inner membrane of Ca2+-loaded rat liver mitochondria

It was earlier shown that the calcium load of rat liver mitochondria in medium containing TlNO₃ and KNO₃ resulted in the Tl⁺-induced mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) opening in the inner membrane. This opening was accompanied by an increase in swelling and membrane potential dissipation and a decrease in state 3, state 4, and 2,4-dinitrophenol-uncoupled respiration. This respiratory decrease was markedly leveled by mersalyl (MSL), the phosphate symporter (PiC) inhibitor which poorly stimulated the calcium-induced swelling, but further increased the potential dissipation. All of these effects of Ca²⁺ and MSL were visibly reduced in the presence of the MPTP inhibitors (ADP, N-ethylmaleimide, and cyclosporine A). High MSL concentrations attenuated the ability of ADP to inhibit the MPTP. Our data suggest that the PiC can participate in the Tl⁺-induced MPTP opening in the inner membrane of Ca²⁺-loaded rat liver mitochondria.

The mitochondrial citrate carrier: metabolic role and regulation of its activity and expression

The citrate carrier (CiC), a nuclear-encoded protein located in the mitochondrial inner membrane, is a member of the mitochondrial carrier family. CiC plays an important role in hepatic lipogenesis, which is responsible for the efflux of acetyl-CoA from the mitochondria to the cytosol in the form of citrate, the primer for fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis. In addition, CiC is a key component of the isocitrate-oxoglutarate and the citrate-malate shuttles. CiC has been purified from various species and its reconstituted function characterized as well as its cDNA isolated and sequenced. CiC mRNA and/or CiC protein levels are high in liver, pancreas, and kidney, but are low or absent in brain, heart, skeletal muscle, placenta, and lungs. A reduction of CiC activity was found in diabetic, hypothyroid, starved rats, and in rats fed on a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-enriched diet. Molecular analysis suggested that the regulation of CiC activity occurs mainly through transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms. This review begins with an assessment of the current understanding of CiC structural and biochemical characteristics, underlying the structure-function relationship. Emphasis will be placed on the molecular basis of the regulation of CiC activity in coordination with fatty acid synthesis.

The mechanism of transport by mitochondrial carriers based on analysis of symmetry

The structures of mitochondrial transporters and uncoupling proteins are 3-fold pseudosymmetrical, but their substrates and coupling ions are not. Thus, deviations from symmetry are to be expected in the substrate and ion-binding sites in the central aqueous cavity. By analyzing the 3-fold pseudosymmetrical repeats from which their sequences are made, conserved asymmetric residues were found to cluster in a region of the central cavity identified previously as the common substrate-binding site. Conserved symmetrical residues required for the transport mechanism were found at the water-membrane interfaces, and they include the three PX[DE]XX[RK] motifs, which form a salt bridge network on the matrix side of the cavity when the substrate-binding site is open to the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Symmetrical residues in three [FY][DE]XX[RK] motifs are on the cytoplasmic side of the cavity and could form a salt bridge network when the substrate-binding site is accessible from the mitochondrial matrix. It is proposed that the opening and closing of the carrier may be coupled to the disruption and formation of the 2 salt bridge networks via a 3-fold rotary twist induced by substrate binding. The interaction energies of the networks allow members of the transporter family to be classified as strict exchangers or uniporters.

Kinetic Evidence for the Uniport Mechanism Hypothesis in the Mitochondrial Tricarboxylate Transport System

The kinetics of the transport of citrate by the tricarboxylate transport system located in the inner mitochondrial membrane was studied in proteoliposomes containing the purified carrier protein, in order to verify the previously hypothesized mechanism of uniport (J. Bioenerg. Biomembr. 35, 133-140, 2003) and achieve some information on the kinetic properties of the carrier transport system. For this purpose, a mathematical model has been elaborated and the experimental data were analyzed according to it. The results indicate that the data actually fit with the uniport model, and hence it is confirmed that the carrier has a single binding site for its substrates and can oscillate between the inside and outside form, in both the free and substrate-bound states. The rearrangement of the free form is slower than the bound form in both directions. The dissociation constants for the internal substrate are at least one order of magnitude higher than the one for external citrate. As a consequence of these last two points, the rate of citrate transport by the carrier is much higher when it operates in exchange with another substrate than when it operates in net uniport.