TABLE 1.

Summary of different types of mitochondria-targeting molecule and the corresponding targeting mechanisms and biological applications.

Targeted molecular types		Targeting mechanism		Ref.
Small molecules	TPP+	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Detection of mitochondria with fluorescent carbon dot	Wang et al. (2014)
	DQA	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Delivering drugs to breast cancer cells	Song et al. (2015)
	F16	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Treatment of cancer in combination with BODIPY	He et al. (2015)
	Guanidine/Biguanidine	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Can selectively kill prostate cancer cells	Dyshlovoy et al. (2020)
	Rhodamine	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Has good anticancer activity	Antonenko et al. (2011)
Transition metal complex	CTB	Link targeted small molecule TPP+	Can target mitochondria in drug-resistant tumor cells and overcome resistance to cisplatin	Zhou et al. (2014)
	Gold-1a	Can specifically target Hsp60 targets on mitochondria	Has good anticancer activity	Hu et al. (2016)
	BODIPY-Pt	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Can inhibit the proliferation of human cervical cancer and human breast cancer cells	Sun et al. (2015)
	RuL1	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Two-photon photodynamic anticancer drug for mitochondrial target	Liu et al. (2015)
	Cyolometalated Ir(III) complex	Mitochondrial membrane potential	As anticancer drug by targeting mitochondria	Cao et al. (2017)
	Complex 3	Mitochondrial membrane potential	Has good anticancer activity	Qin et al. (2017)
Bioactive molecule	MPPs	Mitochondrial membrane potential and lipotropism	Mitochondrial transport vector	Yousif et al. (2010)
	SS peptides	Unclear	Used to protect mitochondrial crista	Birk et al. (2013)
	MTSs	Recognizing specific receptors on mitochondria	Carrying medicine for treating tumor	Mossalam et al. (2012)
	CRPs	Recognizing specific receptors on mitochondria	Promote ATP production	Kam et al. (2019)
	ER signal peptide	Unclear	Temporary non-biological application	Pfeiffer et al. (2013)
	mRNA	Unclear	Temporary non-biological application	Michaud et al. (2014)
Nanomaterials	Polymeric/polymer-coated nanoparticles and micelles	Binding to molecules with targeting capability	Can deliver drug, treat cancer and tumor	Zheng et al. (2012); Chen et al. (2015); Ma et al. (2018)
	DQAsomes and DQA-liposomes	Mitochondrial membrane potential and lipotropism	Transfer of small molecule drugs and nucleic acids to the mitochondria of living cells	Volkmar (2015)
	Inorganic nanoparticles	Binding to molecules with targeting capability	For mitochondrial image and mitochondrial targeted photodynamic cancer treatment	Hua et al. (2017)