A Channel Model to Explain Regulation of the Mitochondrial Inner Membrane Anion Channel (IMAC)

Abstract

The mitochondrial inner membrane anion channel (IMAC) is a transport pathway in the inner mitochondrial membrane which is able to transport a wide variety of anions ranging from Cl^- to ATP^4- (see Beavis (1992) and references therein for a review). In addition to its very broad selectivity, it differs from all the other anion transporters of the inner membrane in that it mediates rapid electrophoretic uniport. On the basis of these properties, we call it a channel. In all other respects, however, its: properties are indistinguishable from those of a uniport carrier. Its turnover number is not known, since it has not yet been identified or purified and therefore its abundance is not known.