Mitochondria are essential components of eukaryotic cells and are involved in a diverse set of cellular processes that include ATP production, cellular signalling, apoptosis and cell growth. These organelles are thought to have originated from a symbiotic relationship between prokaryotic cells in an effort to provide a bioenergetic jump and thus, the greater complexity observed in eukaryotes (Lane and Martin 2010). Mitochondrial processes are required not only for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, but also allow cell to cell and tissue to tissue communication (Nunnari and Suomalainen 2012). Mitochondrial phospholipids are important components of this system. Phospholipids make up the characteristic outer and inner membranes that give mitochondria their shape. In addition, these membranes house sterols, sphingolipids and a wide variety of proteins. It is the phospholipids that also give rise to other characteristic mitochondrial structures such as cristae (formed from the invaginations of the inner mitochondrial membrane), the matrix (area within cristae) and the intermembrane space (IMS) which separates the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) and inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). Phospholipids are the building blocks that make up these structures. However, the phospholipid composition of the OMM and IMM is unique in each membrane. Mitochondria are able to synthesize some of the phospholipids it requires, but the majority of cellular lipid biosynthesis takes place in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in conjunction with the Golgi apparatus (Fagone and Jackowski 2009). In this review, we will focus on the role that mitochondrial phospholipids play in specific cellular functions and discuss their biosynthesis, metabolism and transport as well as the differences between the OMM and IMM phospholipid composition. Finally, we will focus on the human diseases that result from disturbances to mitochondrial phospholipids and the current research being performed to help us gain a better understanding of their function.

Mitochondria are the nexus of energy metabolism, and consequently their dysfunction has been implicated in the development of metabolic complications and progression to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The unique tetra-acyl phospholipid cardiolipin (CL) is located in the inner mitochondrial membrane, where it maintains mitochondrial integrity. Here we show that knockdown of Tafazzin (TAZ kd), a CL transacylase, in mice results in protection against the development of obesity, insulin resistance, and hepatic steatosis. We determined that hypermetabolism protected TAZ kd mice from weight gain. Unexpectedly, the large reduction of CL in the heart and skeletal muscle of TAZ kd mice was not mirrored in the liver. As a result, TAZ kd mice exhibited normal hepatic mitochondrial supercomplex formation and elevated hepatic fatty acid oxidation. Collectively, these studies identify a key role for hepatic CL remodeling in regulating susceptibility to insulin resistance and as a novel therapeutic target for diet-induced obesity.

Cardiolipin (CL) is a mitochondrial membrane phospholipid which plays a key role in apoptosis and supports mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes involved in the generation of ATP. In order to facilitate its role CL must be remodeled with appropriate fatty acids. We previously identified a human monolysocardiolipin acyltransferase activity which remodels CL via acylation of monolysocardiolipin (MLCL) to CL and was identical to the alpha subunit of trifunctional protein (αTFP) lacking the first 227 amino acids. Full length αTFP is an enzyme that plays a prominent role in mitochondrial β-oxidation, and in this study we assessed the role, if any, which this metabolic enzyme plays in the remodeling of CL. Purified human recombinant αTFP exhibited acyl-CoA acyltransferase activity in the acylation of MLCL to CL with linoleoyl-CoA, oleoyl-CoA and palmitoyl-CoA as substrates. Expression of αTFP increased radioactive linoleate or oleate or palmitate incorporation into CL in HeLa cells. Expression of αTFP in Barth Syndrome lymphoblasts, which exhibit reduced tetralinoleoyl-CL, elevated linoleoyl-CoA acylation of MLCL to CL in vitro, increased mitochondrial respiratory Complex proteins and increased linoleate-containing species of CL. Knock down of αTFP in Barth Syndrome lymphoblasts resulted in greater accumulation of MLCL than those with normal αTFP levels. The results clearly indicate that the human αTFP exhibits MLCL acyltransferase activity for the resynthesis of CL from MLCL and directly links an enzyme of mitochondrial β-oxidation to CL remodeling.