RESUMO
Oxa1 is the mitochondrial representative of a family of related proteins that mediate the insertion of substrate proteins into the membranes of bacteria, chloroplasts, and mitochondria. Several studies have demonstrated that the bacterial homologue YidC participates both in the direct uptake of proteins from the bacterial cytosol, and in the uptake of nascent proteins from the Sec translocase. Studies on the biogenesis of membrane proteins in mitochondria established that Oxa1 has the capability to receive substrates at the inner surface of the inner membrane. In this study, we asked if Oxa1 may similarly cooperate with a protein translocase within the membrane. Since Oxa1 is involved in its own biogenesis, we used the precursor of Oxa1 as a model protein and investigated its import pathway. We found that immediately after import into mitochondria, Oxa1 initially accumulates at Tim23 that forms the inner membrane protein translocase. Cleavage of the Oxa1 presequence is dependent on mtHsp70, a heat shock protein of the mitochondrial matrix. However, mutant mtHsp70 showing a defect in the release of bound substrate proteins does not interfere with subsequent membrane insertion, indicating that membrane insertion of the mature protein is essentially mtHsp70-independent. We conclude that Oxa1 has the ability to accept preproteins within the membrane.
Assuntos
Complexo IV da Cadeia de Transporte de Elétrons/metabolismo , Membranas Intracelulares/metabolismo , Mitocôndrias/metabolismo , Proteínas Mitocondriais/metabolismo , Proteínas Nucleares/metabolismo , Complexo IV da Cadeia de Transporte de Elétrons/genética , Proteínas de Choque Térmico HSP70/genética , Proteínas de Choque Térmico HSP70/metabolismo , Proteínas de Membrana Transportadoras/metabolismo , Mitocôndrias/genética , Proteínas do Complexo de Importação de Proteína Precursora Mitocondrial , Proteínas Mitocondriais/genética , Peso Molecular , Mutação/genética , Proteínas Nucleares/genética , Ligação Proteica , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolismo , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolismoRESUMO
The gamma-subunit is required for the assembly of ATP synthases and plays a crucial role in their catalytic activity. We stepwise shortened the N-terminus and the C-terminus of the gamma-subunit in the mitochondrial ATP synthase of yeast and investigated the relevance of these segments in the assembly of the enzyme and in the growth of the cells. We found that a deletion of 9 residues at the N-terminus or 20 residues at the C-terminus still allowed efficient import of the subunit into mitochondria; however, the assembly of both monomeric and dimeric holoenzymes was partially impaired. gamma-Subunits lacking 13 N-terminal residues or 30 C-terminal residues were not assembled. Yeast strains expressing either of the truncated gamma-subunits did not grow on non-fermentable carbon sources, indicating that non-assembled parts of the ATP synthase accumulated and impaired essential mitochondrial functions.