Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
Plant Signal Behav. 2012 Jan;7(1):31-3. doi: 10.4161/psb.7.1.18394.
The voltage-dependent anion channels (VDACs) known as a major group of outer mitochondrial membrane proteins are present in all eukaryotic species. In mammalian cells, they have been established as a key player in mitochondrial metabolism and apoptosis regulation. By contrast, little is known about the function of plant VDACs. Recently, we performed functional analysis of all VDAC gene members in Arabidopsis thaliana, and revealed that each AtVDAC member has a specialized function. Especially, in spite of similar subcellular localization and expression profiling of AtVDAC2 and AtVDAC4, both the T-DNA insertion knockout mutants of them, vdac2-2 and vdac4-2, showed severe growth retardation. These results suggest that AtVDAC2 and AtVDAC4 proteins clearly have distinct functions. Here, we introduced the AtVDAC2 gene into the vdac2-2 mutant, and demonstrated that the miniature phenotype of vdac2-2 plant is abolished by AtVDAC2 expression.
电压依赖性阴离子通道（VDACs）是一种主要的线粒体外膜蛋白，存在于所有真核生物中。在哺乳动物细胞中，它们已被确定为线粒体代谢和细胞凋亡调节的关键因子。相比之下，植物 VDAC 的功能知之甚少。最近，我们对拟南芥中的所有 VDAC 基因成员进行了功能分析，揭示了每个 AtVDAC 成员都具有特定的功能。特别是，尽管 AtVDAC2 和 AtVDAC4 的亚细胞定位和表达谱相似，但它们的 T-DNA 插入敲除突变体 vdac2-2 和 vdac4-2 均表现出严重的生长迟缓。这些结果表明，AtVDAC2 和 AtVDAC4 蛋白显然具有不同的功能。在这里，我们将 AtVDAC2 基因引入 vdac2-2 突变体中，并证明 AtVDAC2 的表达可以消除 vdac2-2 植物的微型表型。
