Major concerns with the integrity of the mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier in dodecyl-phosphocholine used for solution NMR studies

Hereby, we wish to note our objections to a paper called \"Substrate-modulated ADP/ATP-transporter dynamics revealed by NMR relaxation dispersion\" by Bruschweiler et al., published in NSMB in 20151. The subject is the yeast mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier AAC3, which we have studied in great detail ourselves. In particular, we have solved its structure by electron2and x-ray crystallography3 and have studied its interactions with the specific inhibitors atractyloside (ATR) and carboxyatractyloside (CATR) by single-molecule force spectroscopy4. In this paper, the authors claim that AAC3 can be refolded to homogeneity from inclusion bodies produced in Escherichia coli by using the detergent dodecyl-phosphocholine (DPC), better known as Foscholine-12 (Anatrace), and that AAC3 is maintained in a folded and active state for the duration of isothermal titration calor ...