Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation complexes exist in the sarcolemma of skeletal muscle

Although proteomic analyses have revealed the presence of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) proteins in the plasma membrane, there have been no in-depth evaluations of the presence or function of OXPHOS I-V in the plasma membrane. Here, we demonstrate the in situ localization of OXPHOS I-V complexes to the sarcolemma of skeletal muscle by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. A portion of the OXPHOS I-V complex proteins was not co-stained with MitoTracker but co-localized with caveolin-3 in the sarcolemma of mouse gastrocnemius. Mitochondrial matrix-facing OXPHOS complex subunits were ectopically expressed in the sarcolemma of the non-permeabilized muscle fibers and C2C12 myotubes. The sarcolemmal localization of cytochrome c was also observed from mouse gastrocnemius muscles and C2C12 myotubes, as determined by confocal and total internal resonance fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. Based on these data, we conclude that a portion of OXPHOS complexes is localized in the sarcolemma of skeletal muscle and may have non-canonical functions.