Department of Molecular Pathobiology, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Oct 13;22(20):11022. doi: 10.3390/ijms222011022.
The c subunit of the ATP synthase is an inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) protein. Besides its role as the main component of the rotor of the ATP synthase, c subunit from mammalian mitochondria exhibits ion channel activity. In particular, c subunit may be involved in one of the pathways leading to the formation of the permeability transition pore (PTP) during mitochondrial permeability transition (PT), a phenomenon consisting of the permeabilization of the IMM due to high levels of calcium. Our previous study on the synthetic c subunit showed that high concentrations of calcium induce misfolding into cross-β oligomers that form low-conductance channels in model lipid bilayers of about 400 pS. Here, we studied the effect of cyclophilin D (CypD), a mitochondrial chaperone and major regulator of PTP, on the electrophysiological activity of the c subunit to evaluate its role in the functional properties of c subunit. Our study shows that in presence of CypD, c subunit exhibits a larger conductance, up to 4 nS, that could be related to its potential role in mitochondrial toxicity. Further, our results suggest that CypD is necessary for the formation of c subunit induced PTP but may not be an integral part of the pore.
ATP 合酶的 c 亚基是一种线粒体内膜(IMM)蛋白。除了作为 ATP 合酶转子的主要组成部分的作用外,哺乳动物线粒体的 c 亚基还具有离子通道活性。特别是,c 亚基可能参与了线粒体通透性转换(PT)期间通透性转换孔(PTP)形成的途径之一,这一现象是由于高水平的钙导致线粒体内膜通透性增加。我们之前对合成 c 亚基的研究表明,高浓度的钙会诱导错误折叠成具有约 400 pS 低电导的交叉-β 寡聚物,在模型脂质双层中形成低电导通道。在这里,我们研究了线粒体伴侣蛋白和 PTP 的主要调节因子环孢素 D(CypD)对 c 亚基电生理活性的影响,以评估其在 c 亚基功能特性中的作用。我们的研究表明,在 CypD 存在的情况下,c 亚基表现出更大的电导,高达 4 nS,这可能与其在线粒体毒性中的潜在作用有关。此外,我们的结果表明,CypD 是 c 亚基诱导的 PTP 形成所必需的,但可能不是孔的组成部分。