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Voltage‐dependent anion‐selective channel (VDAC) in the plasma membrane
Author(s) -
De Pinto Vito,
Messina Angela,
Lane Darius J.R.,
Lawen Alfons
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2010.02.049
Subject(s) - voltage dependent anion channel , membrane , ion channel , plasma , chemistry , membrane protein , membrane potential , biophysics , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , biology , bacterial outer membrane , physics , receptor , escherichia coli , quantum mechanics , gene
Voltage‐dependent anion channels (VDACs) have originally been characterized as mitochondrial porins. Starting in the late 1980s, however, evidence began to accumulate that VDACs can also be expressed in plasma membranes. In this review, we briefly revisit the historical milestones in the discovery of plasma membrane‐bound VDAC, and we critically analyze the evidence for VDAC plasma membrane localization obtained from various purification strategies and recently from plasma membrane proteomics studies. We discuss the possible biological function and relevance of VDAC in the plasma membrane and finally discuss a hypothetical model of how VDAC may be targeted to the plasma membrane.