Science
, 337
, p.
96
–
100
and answer the following questions.
The authors describe experiments performed to identify the carrier protein involved in pyruvate uptake
into the mitochondria.
1)
How did the authors demonstrate that the
Mpc1 protein was located in the mitochondrial inner
membrane?
2) Describe how
the authors demonstrate
d
that Mpc1 protein function was conserved through
evolution.
3) The Drosophila that lacked dMPC1 (dMPC1
–
) died q
uickly on a sugar only diet (Figure 2A). What does
this suggest about sugar metabolism in these flies?
How did measurement of metabolites in Figure 2F,
3A and 3B help the authors understand why the dMPC1
–
flies were dying?
4) Even without a pyruvate carri
er
to transport pyruvate from the cytosol to the matrix, the
mitochondri
a can still have some pyruvate in the matrix.
Describe one way that pyruvate can be
generated in the mitochondrial matrix
in the absence of Mpc1.
5)
Describe the experiment in this pa
per that most directly demonstrates that Mpc1 is a pyruvate
carrier.