title: Co-translational protein import into mitochondria: an alternative view.
abstract: Recent in vitro and in vivo experiments suggest that the synthesis and import of mitochondrial proteins are very tightly coupled and that a co-translational import reaction may be mandatory for some proteins. These results are entirely consistent with early experiments which suggested that import occurs co-translationally and that cytosolic polysomes synthesizing mitochondrial proteins are bound to protein import sites on isolated mitochondria. This article discusses and seemingly contradictory reports concerning the involvement of co-translational and post-translational mechanisms in the import process and examines the impact of recent developments in the field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey 17033.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Verner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001693:Biological Transport, Active; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae
chemical_list: D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins