Mitochondria generate the energy that is needed to power biochemical reactions in the living cell. The enzymatic machinery involved in this process consists of a range of different proteins, many of which are immobilized with the mitochondria. It is still an open question whether macromolecular crowding plays a role in the processes occurring in the mitochondrial matrix solvent. The paper demonstrates that the diffusion constant of fluorescent peptides in the mitochondrial matrix of HeLa cells decreases with increasing molecular weight in a manner typical of macromolecular crowding for functional and dysfunctional mitochondria. The full paper (open access) can be found here: Stress-dependent macromolecular crowding in the mitochondrial matrix
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Macromolecular crowding - A novel player in mitochondrial physiology and disease
