title: Pyruvate transport systems in organelles: future directions in C4 biology research.
abstract: Pyruvate is a central metabolite that must be imported into organelles for specific metabolic processes, including C4 photosynthesis. Plastidial and mitochondrial pyruvate transporter molecules were recently identified: the former was found based on C4 photosynthesis transcriptome analysis and the latter using a bioinformatics approach in yeast. The transport activities of these molecules were recently investigated in heterologous expression systems: Escherichia coli and Lactococcus lactis, respectively. These studies demonstrated the important roles of the NHD1/Bass2-protein coupling function and the mitochondria pyruvate carrier protein complex in pyruvate uptake. Here, I summarize the approaches used to isolate these proteins and the issues that remain to be investigated.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Ryukoku University, 1-5, Yokotani, Oe-cho, Seta, Otsu, Shiga 520-2194, Japan. Electronic address: tfurumoto@agr.ryukoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furumoto
mesh_terms: D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D013294:Lactococcus lactis / Q000378:metabolism; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D027501:Monocarboxylic Acid Transporters; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D019289:Pyruvic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D027501:Monocarboxylic Acid Transporters; D019289:Pyruvic Acid