The diverse members of the mitochondrial carrier family in plants

Sequencing of plant genomes allowed the identification of various members of the mitochondrial carrier family (MCF). In plants, these structurally related proteins are involved in the transport of solutes like nucleotides, phosphate, di- and tricarboxylates across the mitochondrial membrane and therefore exhibit physiological functions similar to known isoforms from animal or yeast mitochondria. Interestingly, various studies led to the recognition of MCF proteins which mediate the transport of different substrates like folates, S-adenosylmethionine, ADPglucose or ATP, ADP and AMP in plastids.