Tic20 is an integral protein thought to have four transmembrane α-helices. It is found in the 1 million dalton TIC complex. Because it is similar to bacterial amino acid transporters and the mitochondrial import protein Tim17 (translocase on the inner mitochondrial membrane), it has been proposed to be part of the TIC import channel. There is no in vitro evidence for this though. In Arabidopsis thaliana, it is known that for about every five Toc75 proteins in the outer chloroplast membrane, there are two Tic20 I proteins (the main form of Tic20 in Arabidopsis) in the inner chloroplast membrane.
Unlike Tic214, Tic100, or Tic56, Tic20 has homologous relatives in cyanobacteria and nearly all chloroplast lineages, suggesting it evolved before the first chloroplast endosymbiosis. Tic214, Tic100, and Tic56 are unique to chloroplastidan chloroplasts, suggesting that they evolved later.