Praseodymium trivalent ion is an effective inhibitor of mitochondrial basic amino acids and carnitine/acylcarnitine carriers

We herein report the identification of the lantanide praseodymium trivalent ion Pr3+ as inhibitor of mitochondrial transporters for basic amino acids and phylogenetically related carriers belonging to the Slc25 family. The inhibitory effect of Pr3+ has been tested using mitochondrial transporters reconstituted into liposomes being effective in the micromolar range, acting as a competitive inhibitor of the human basic amino acids carrier (BAC, Slc25A29), the human carnitine/acylcarnitine carrier (CAC, Slc25A20). Furthermore, we provide computational evidence that the complete inhibition of the transport activity of the recombinant proteins is due to the Pr3+ coordination to key acidic residues of the matrix salt bridge network. Besides being used as a first choice stop inhibitor for functional studies in vitro of mitochondrial carriers reconstituted in proteoliposomes, Pr3+ might also represent a useful tool for structural studies of the mitochondrial carrier family.