The protein import receptor of mitochondria

Abstract

Protein import into the mitochondria of Saccharomyces cerevisiae depends on two receptor subcomplexes composed of integral outer-membrane proteins. One subcomplex is the MAS37-MAS70 heterodimer, which preferentially recognizes the mature regions of precursor proteins associated with ATP-dependent cytosolic chaperones. The other subcomplex contains the acidic proteins MAS20 and MAS22, which recognize the positively charged targeting sequences of a wide variety of mitochondrial precursors. We propose that the two subcomplexes can act together as a single, multifunctional receptor that binds simultaneously to different regions of a precursor molecule.