Reconstitutions of mitochondrial inner membrane remodeling.

Biological membranes exhibit function-related shapes, leading to a plethora of complex and beautiful cell and cell organellar morphologies. Most if not all of these structures have evolved for a particular physiological reason. The shapes of these structures are formed by physical forces that operate on membranes. To create particular shaped cells and cell organelles, membranes must undergo deformations which are determined by the structure and elasticity of the membrane and this process is most probable driven by proteins, lipids and/or interplay of both Zimmerberg and Kozlov (2006). Therefore, an important question of current cell biology in conjunction with physics and mathematics is to elucidate the functional cause for these different membrane morphologies as well as how they are formed. One of the most peculiar membrane shapes is observed in mitochondria. These organelles are surrounded by two membranes and especially the convoluted inner membrane displays a complex ultra-structure. A molecular understanding of how this membrane is shaped is missing to a large extent. Unlike membrane remodeling in classical curvature-dependent processes like clathrin-mediated endocytosis, mitochondria are most likely shaped by integral membrane proteins. Following, we will review the current knowledge of inner mitochondrial membrane architecture and discuss recent findings and advances in understanding the factors that shape this membrane. We will address pending questions especially with regard to the experimentally challenging nature of investigating membrane bending by hydrophobic integral membrane proteins.