Characterization of dimeric and trimeric VDAC multimers in detergent and nanodiscs. (a) DNA-tethered VDAC dimer in detergent micelles. Lane 1, unmodified VDAC; lane 2–3, VDAC-oligonucleotide-t1 and -d2 conjugate; lane 4, equimolar mixture of the VDAC-oligonucleotide conjugates from lane 2 and lane 3; (b) DNA-tethered VDAC trimer in detergent micelles. Lane 1, unmodified VDAC; lane 2–4, VDAC-oligonucleotide-t1, -t2 and -t3 conjugates; lane 5, equimolar mixture of VDAC-oligonucleotide conjugates from lanes 2–4. For a list of molecular masses see Supporting Table S1. Size exclusion chromatographic (SEC) analysis of (VDAC)2- (c) and (VDAC)3-nanodiscs (d) before (blue) and after (green) removal of the DNA scaffold. Nanodiscs assembled with un-tagged VDAC in a control reaction are shown in red. SDS-PAGE analysis of the SEC peak fractions of the (VDAC)2- (e) and (VDAC)3-nanodiscs (f) before and after treatment with DNAse. The control reaction (g) shows the SEC peak fraction of nanodiscs assembled with un-tagged VDAC.