Seminars

The last steps of cellular respiration—an essential metabolic process in free living eukaryotes—are carried out by the mitochondrial electron transport chain. This chain is composed of multi-subunit membrane protein complexes (complex I-IV) that can come together to form higher-order assemblies called supercomplexes. Although structures of respiratory complexes and supercomplexes are available many questions remain regarding the molecular mechanisms of the individual complexes as well as the physiological roles of their higher order assembly. Here I will describe how recent studies from my group have revealed an unexpected diversity in the structures and functions of respiratory complexes across eukaryotes and what structures of diverse complexes teach us about universal aspects of mechanism and physiology.