Membrane Curvature Controls the Efficiency of Oxidative Phosphorylation System

This paper analyzes the structural and functional organization of mitochondria. It is shown that deformation of membrane lipids by supercomplexes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and ATP synthase dimers leads to their mutual attraction. It has been shown that membrane bending near the proton pump creates a dedicated direction for the movement of protons to ATP synthase. Mitochondria can operate in the standby mode with loose coupling but also with low oxidative damage. They can switch to the mode of tight coupling and clustering of oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS) at high energy demand conditions due to the changes in ultrastructure.