Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40267181›Full record

ArticleScience advances2025

Conformational plasticity of mitochondrial VDAC2 controls the kinetics of its interaction with cytosolic proteins.

William M Rosencrans, Harisankar Khuntia, Motahareh Ghahari Larimi, Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi, Tsyr-Yan Yu, Sergey M Bezrukov, Tatiana K Rostovtseva

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Elliptical β-barrel deformation underlies gating in VDAC1.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

William M RosencransEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1461-8891
Harisankar KhuntiaInstitute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.ORCID 0009-0005-0840-336X
Motahareh Ghahari LarimiEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID 0009-0001-3677-7538
Radhakrishnan MahalakshmiDepartment of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, India.ORCID 0000-0003-1549-7550
Tsyr-Yan YuInstitute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.ORCID 0000-0001-7051-4769
Sergey M BezrukovEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Tatiana K RostovtsevaEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7299-7362

Funding

DBT-Wellcome Trust India Alliance IA/S/20/2/505182
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) is a key conduit of the mitochondrial outer membrane for water-soluble metabolites and ions. Among the three mammalian isoforms, VDAC2 is unique because of its embryonic lethality upon knockout. Using single-molecule electrophysiology, we investigate the biophysical properties that distinguish VDAC2 from VDAC1 and VDAC3. Unlike the latter, VDAC2 exhibits dynamic switching between multiple high-conductance, anion-selective substates. Using α-synuclein (αSyn)-a known VDAC1 cytosolic regulator-we found that higher-conductance substates correlate with increased on-rates of αSyn-VDAC2 interaction but shorter blockage times, maintaining a consistent equilibrium constant across all substates. This suggests that αSyn detects VDAC2's dynamic structural variations before final binding. We explored the dependence of VDAC2's unique amino-terminal extension and cysteines on substate behavior, finding that both structural elements modulate substate occurrence. The discovered conformational flexibility enables VDAC2 recognition by diverse binding partners, explaining its critical physiological role via dynamical adaptation to mitochondrial metabolic conditions.

Indexed as

alpha-SynucleinCytosolMitochondriaVoltage-Dependent Anion Channel 2AnimalsHumansKineticsProtein BindingProtein ConformationVoltage-Dependent Anion Channel 1alpha-SynucleinVDAC2 protein, humanVoltage-Dependent Anion Channel 1Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel 2

Identifiers

PMID40267181
PMCPMC12017312

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.