Characteristic analysis of homo- and heterodimeric complexes of human mitochondrial pyruvate carrier related to metabolic diseases

Human mitochondrial pyruvate carriers (hMPCs), which are required for the uptake of pyruvate into mitochondria, are associated with several metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and various cancers. Yeast MPC was recently demonstrated to form a functional unit of heterodimers. However, human MPC-1 (hMPC-1) and MPC-2 (hMPC-2) have not yet been individually isolated for their detailed characterization, in particular in terms of their structural and functional properties, namely, whether they exist as homo- or heterodimers. In this study, hMPC-1 and hMPC-2 were successfully isolated in micelles and they formed stable homodimers. However, the heterodimer state was found to be dominant when both hMPC-1 and hMPC-2 were present. In addition, as heterodimers, the molecules exhibited a higher binding capacity to both substrates and inhibitors, together with a larger structural stability than when they existed as homodimers. Taken together, our results demonstrated that the hetero-dimerization of hMPCs is the main functional unit of the pyruvate metabolism, providing a structural insight into the transport mechanisms of hMPCs.