Tubulin binding blocks mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel and regulates respiration.

ABSTRACT: Regulation of mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM) permeability has dual importance: in normal metabolite and energy exchange between mitochondria and cytoplasm and thus in control of respiration, and in apoptosis by release of apoptogenic factors into the cytosol. However, the mechanism of this regulation, dependent on the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), the major channel of MOM, remains controversial. A long-standing puzzle is that in permeabilized cells, adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) is less accessible to cytosolic ADP than in isolated mitochondria. We solve this puzzle by finding a missing player in the regulation of MOM permeability: the cytoskeletal protein tubulin. We show that nanomolar concentrations of dimeric tubulin induce voltage-sensitive reversible closure of VD

SUBMITTER: Rostovtseva TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2596221 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature