Electrical acceleration of the glycerophosphate shuttle by the VDAC1,2-hexokinase complexes of mitochondria

Glycerophosphate shuttle, an important crossroad between oxidative phosphorylation system, glycolysis and lipid metabolism, consists of the rate-limiting mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD2) and the cytosolic dehydrogenase (GPD1). GPD2 level is relatively high in islet beta-cells, spermatozoa and neurons, required abruptly rapid periodic ATP consumption, as well as in rapidly growing normal tissues during neonatal period and many cancers. According to the computational model developed in the present work, the glycerophosphate shuttle should be significantly activated by the outer membrane potential (OMP) generated by the VDAC1,2-hexokinase complexes of mitochondrial outer membrane. This is due to the capture of cytosolic glycerol-3-phosphate^2- into the mitochondrial intermembrane space by the positive OMP, thus increasing its local concentration near GPD2. The predicted acceleration is most significant at relatively high K_m of GPD2 for glycerol-3-phosphate^2- and strongly modulated by the VDAC's voltage-gating properties. In general, OMP generated by the VDAC1,2-hexokinase complexes might play a crucial role in the above-mentioned crossroad, converting it into the "electrical metabolic crossroad". The suggested electrical deviation of glycolysis towards the mitochondrial GPD2, as a tool for the metabolic shift to an accelerated aerobic glycolysis without an inhibition of mitochondrial respiration, highlights this metabolic switching as one of the possible options of the Warburg effect.