Mitochondrial carrier homolog 2

MTCH2 (Mitochondrial Carrier Homolog 2) is a mitochondrial outer membrane protein that functions as a protein insertase mediating insertion of transmembrane proteins, particularly those with alpha-helical transmembrane domains such as signal-anchored and tail-anchored proteins (UniProt: Q9Y6C9). Beyond its insertase role, MTCH2 acts as a receptor for pro-apoptotic BID and participates in regulating apoptosis, hematopoietic stem cell quiescence, mitochondrial dynamics, and lipid homeostasis (UniProt: Q9Y6C9).

MTCH2 is predominantly localized to mitochondrial compartments where it influences critical cellular processes including mitochondrial fusion during embryonic stem cell differentiation and adipocyte biology (UniProt: Q9Y6C9). The protein has no explicitly documented disease associations in UniProt.

MTCH2 is curated as Alzheimer's Disease-relevant in this dataset. Proteomics analysis of post-mortem AD brain tissue versus age-matched controls using quantitative mass spectrometry across four subcellular fractions (P2, P3, S2, S3) yielded an ambiguous directional result, with a mean log2 fold-change of 0.27 (Chaparral AD proteomics). This modest magnitude and directional ambiguity across fractions suggest complex or fraction-specific regulation of MTCH2 in AD pathology.