Najbauer EE, Tekwani Movellan K, Giller K, Benz R, Becker S, Griesinger C, Andreas LB. Structure and Gating Behavior of the Human Integral Membrane Protein VDAC1 in a Lipid Bilayer.
J Am Chem Soc 2022;
144:2953-2967. [PMID:
35164499 PMCID:
PMC8874904 DOI:
10.1021/jacs.1c09848]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
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The voltage-dependent
anion channel (VDAC), the most abundant protein
in the outer mitochondrial membrane, is responsible for the transport
of all ions and metabolites into and out of mitochondria. Larger than
any of the β-barrel structures determined to date by magic-angle
spinning (MAS) NMR, but smaller than the size limit of cryo-electron
microscopy (cryo-EM), VDAC1’s 31 kDa size has long been a bottleneck
in determining its structure in a near-native lipid bilayer environment.
Using a single two-dimensional (2D) crystalline sample of human VDAC1
in lipids, we applied proton-detected fast magic-angle spinning NMR
spectroscopy to determine the arrangement of β strands. Combining
these data with long-range restraints from a spin-labeled sample,
chemical shift-based secondary structure prediction, and previous
MAS NMR and atomic force microscopy (AFM) data, we determined the
channel’s structure at a 2.2 Å root-mean-square deviation
(RMSD). The structure, a 19-stranded β-barrel, with an N-terminal
α-helix in the pore is in agreement with previous data in detergent,
which was questioned due to the potential for the detergent to perturb
the protein’s functional structure. Using a quintuple mutant
implementing the channel’s closed state, we found that dynamics
are a key element in the protein’s gating behavior, as channel
closure leads to the destabilization of not only the C-terminal barrel
residues but also the α2 helix. We showed that cholesterol,
previously shown to reduce the frequency of channel closure, stabilizes
the barrel relative to the N-terminal helix. Furthermore, we observed
channel closure through steric blockage by a drug shown to selectively
bind to the channel, the Bcl2-antisense oligonucleotide G3139.
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