The oxoglutarate carrier transports 2-oxoglutarate across the inner membranes of mitochondria in an electroneutral exchange for malate or other dicarboxylic acids. The sequences of its human and bovine genes have been determined from overlapping genomic clones generated by polymerase chain reactions by use of primers and probes based on the bovine cDNA sequence. The bovine and human genes are split into 6 and 8 exons, respectively, and five introns are found in the same positions in both genes. The coding and protein sequences are 93% and 96.6% identical, respectively. The human oxoglutarate carrier protein is 314 amino acids in length and, in common with the bovine protein, does not appear to have a processed presequence to help to target it into mitochondria.