Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2020
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-66203-6
Publication Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
10304 (14 pp.)
Abstract
For decades, it was not entirely clear why mitochondria develop cristae? The work employing the transmembrane-electrostatic proton localization theory reported here has now provided a clear answer to this fundamental question. Surprisingly, the transmembrane-electrostatically localized proton concentration at a curved mitochondrial crista tip can be significantly higher than that at the relatively flat membrane plane regions where the proton-pumping respiratory supercomplexes are situated. The biological significance for mitochondrial cristae has now, for the first time, been elucidated at a protonic bioenergetics level: 1) The formation of cristae creates more mitochondrial inner membrane surface area and thus more protonic capacitance for transmembrane-electrostatically localized proton energy storage; and 2) The geometric effect of a mitochondrial crista enhances the transmembraneelectrostatically localized proton density to the crista tip where the ATP synthase can readily utilize the localized proton density to drive ATP synthesis.
Original Publication Citation
Lee, J. W. (2020). Protonic Capacitor: Elucidating the biological significance of mitochondrial cristae formation. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 10304. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66203-6
Repository Citation
Lee, James Weifu, "Protonic Capacitor: Elucidating the Biological Significance of Mitochondrial Cristae Formation" (2020). Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications. 185.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/chemistry_fac_pubs/185
Included in
Biochemistry Commons, Cell Biology Commons, Chemistry Commons
Comments
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
© The Author(s) 2020