The role of cholesterol recognition (CARC/CRAC) mirror codes in the allosterism of the human organic cation transporter 2 (OCT2, SLC22A2).

The human organic cation transporter 2 (OCT2) is a multispecific transporter with cholesterol-dependent allosteric features. The present work elucidates the role of evolutionarily conserved cholesterol recognition/interaction amino acid consensus sequences (CRAC and CARC) in the allosteric binding to 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP) in human embryonic kidney 293 cells stably or transiently expressing OCT2. Molecular blind simulations docked two mirroring cholesterol molecules in the 5th putative transmembrane domain, where a CARC and a CRAC sequence lie.