In cell biology, a mitochondrion (plural mitochondria) (from Greek μιτος or mitos, thread + κουδριον or khondrion, granule) is a membrane-enclosed organelle, found in most eukaryotic cells. Mitochondria are sometimes described as "cellular power plants," because they convert food molecules into energy in the form of ATP via the process of oxidative phosphorylation. A typical eukaryotic cell contains about 2,000 mitochondria, which occupy roughly one fifth of its total volume. Mitochondria contain DNA that is independent of the DNA located in the cell nucleus.

Adenylate Kinase

• an enzymatic marker for the inner surface of the outer membrane of lung mitochondria in guinea pig. PMID: 6277328

Barstar

• a selectable marker in yeast mitochondria. PMID: 12928865

Carbomyl Phosphate Synthase (CPS)-1

• a protein primarily localized to liver mitochondria, was found to be present in high concentrations in the plasma of septic humans. Circulating CPS-1 is a marker of mitochondrial damage and depletion in the liver during the subacute phase of CLP sepsis. PMID: 16791110

Cytochrome c

• is released from mitochondria after tissue injury. Plasma and/or urine cyt c appearance might function as a clinically useful in vivo marker of mitochondrial stress and the tissue injury sustained. PMID: 15149325
• may represent a novel in vivo marker of mitochondrial injury after resuscitation from cardiac arrest that relates inversely with survival outcome. PMID: 17040974

GFP (green fluorescent protein)

• as a marker for subcellular localization and as a label for plant mitochondria in vivo. PMID: 9107047

Cytochrome ct.

• transiently expressed mitochondrial protein. PMID: 10336016

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH, EC 1.4.1.2)

• has long been used as a marker for mitochondria in brain and other tissues, despite reports indicating that GDH is also present in nuclei of liver and dorsal root ganglia. Our results indicate that GDH is present in both nuclei and mitochondria in rat brain. The notion that GDH may serve as a marker for mitochondria needs to be re-evaluated. PMID: 3523273

Glutathione disulfide (GSSG)

• a marker of oxidative injury to brain mitochondria. PMID: 8512200

GOT

• cytosolic (s) or mitochondrial (m) glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT). PMID: 2858252

GRK2

• Overexpression of GRK2 in Alzheimer disease and in a chronic hypoperfusion rat model is an early marker of brain mitochondrial lesions. PMID: 17000469

HSP60

• transiently expressed mitochondrial protein. PMID: 10336016

HSP70 Mitochondrial

• is known to have been acquired from the proto-mitochondrial endosymbiont. PMID: 15075277
• localized to the mitochondrial outer membranes of bean and cauliflower mitochondria. PMID: 8573152
• located within a group of sequences that in other lineages is targetted to the mitochondrial compartment. PMID: 9247927

Hsp78

• is a Clp homologue within mitochondria of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. hsp78 can partially substitute for mt-hsp70 functions in the assembly of mitochondria and may be part of a salvage pathway if mt-hsp70 is limiting. PMID: 7628444

Lon Protease

• transiently expressed mitochondrial protein. PMID: 10336016

M2 antigen

• primary biliary cirrhosis mitochondrial marker antigen. PMID: 1848490

MCA151A

• a mitochondrial inner membrane marker. PMID: 8188168

MIT-23

• a mitochondrial marker for terminal neuronal differentiation defined by a monoclonal antibody. PMID: 7060130

mtDNA (mitrochondrial DNA)

• the G allele of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphism at nucleotide position 11719 is associated with the European mtDNA haplogroup cluster HV, and that 11719A is therefore the ancestral allele. PMID: 11236862
• mtDNA provides the first known marker distinguishing proto-Indians from the otherCaucasoids; it probably predates the diversification between Indians and Orientals. PMID: 8702211

N-acetyl aspartate

• a marker for neuronal loss or mitochondrial dysfunction. PMID: 9778562

Succinate Dehydrogenase (SDH)

• mitochondrial marker enzyme. Cytochemical localization of SDH was between the outer and the inner mitochondrial membranes. PMID: 2138522

Sulphydryl Oxidase

• transiently expressed mitochondrial protein. PMID: 10336016

Magnesium Dependent Adenosine Triphosphatase (Mg-ATPase)

• mitochondrial marker enzyme. Mg-ATPase was on the inner surface or matrix side of the inner membrane. PMID: 2138522

Monoamine Oxidase

• an enzyme marker for the outer membrane of rat liver mitochondria. PMID: 5460462, PMID: 4291912

OSCP

• a subunit of yeast mitochondrial ATP synthase. PMID: 9247150

Prohibitin

• a highly conserved, 30- to 32-kDa mitochondrial membrane protein, occurs in a number of unexpected isoforms, ranging from 64 to greater than 185 kDa in the mammalian sperm mitochondria, which are the ubiquitinated substrates. PMID: 12646488
• an antiproliferative protein, is localized to mitochondria. PMID: 7843414

SOD (superoxide dismutase)

• Electrophoretical visualization of SOD patterns provided evidence for possible migration of cytosolic Cu/Zn SOD to mitochondria. The characteristic Cu/Zn SOD profile in mitochondria of all tested strains suggested its ubiquity within the fermentative and respiratory yeasts. PMID: 14734161

UCP-3 protein (mitochondrial uncoupling protein-3)

• is present in mitochondria isolated from rat thymus and mitochondria isolated from reticulocytes, monocytes and lymphocytes of rat spleen. PMID: 15262223
• UCP-3 is predominantly overexpressed in skeletal muscle. PMID: 12630934

VDAC (voltage-dependent anion channel)

• Immunogold labeling and EM analysis of the cerebellar molecular layer showed specific VDAC immunostaining of the mitochondrial outer membrane, highly enhanced in contact sites between mitochondria or between mitochondria and associated ER. PMID: 15238267

Other Mitochondria Markers

• A cytochemical marker for epidermal differentiation, Langerhans cells, skin resident macrophages and mitochondria. PMID: 7138784
• Diaminobenzidine cytochemistry in unfixed human epidermis: a marker for epidermal differentiation and for mitochondria. PMID: 6177799
• Mitochondria DNA markers and genetic demographic processes in neolithic Europe. PMID: 9749344
• Two- and three-point extranuclear crosses have been carried out via heterokaryons involving the three extranuclear mitochondrial markers of Aspergillus nidulans: (oliA1), (cs67) and (camA112). All three markers appear to be located on a single functional mitochondrial genome. PMID: 765725
• Cobalt as a mitochondrial density marker in a study of cytoplasmic exchange during mating of Schizophyllum commune. PMID: 4127537
• On the use of glutamate dehydrogenase as a mitochondrial marker enzyme for the determination of the intracellular distribution of rat liver pyruvate carboxylase. PMID: 11945602