Electromechanochemical Model of Mitochondrial Structure and Function

A new model of mitochondrial structure and function is proposed on the basis of four fundamental assumptions: (a ) electrons and protons are separated in the electron transfer complexes; (b ) the ATPase undergoes conformational state-transitions induced by an electric field; (c ) energy is transferred by an electric field effect; and (d ) a conformationally strained protein system can be relaxed via a bond-forming chemical reaction. The model can explain all of the mitochondrial coupled processes and, in addition, it provides a reasonable rationalization of the correlation between mitochondrial structure and function.