On the structure of mitochondrial porins and its homologies with bacterial porins

By use of computer modelling, we have predicted a model of 16 transmembrane -strands for mitochondrial porins structure from human, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Neurospora crassa and Dictostelium discoideum. The proposed model takes into account biochemical and immunological data reported in the literature, as well as electrophysiological results obtained with yeast mitochondrial porins with mutations at selected amino acids. The predicted structure is very similar to that of some bacterial porins, as apparent from the homology of their hydropathic profiles.