title: Isolation and characterization of the TIM10 homologue from the yeast Pichia sorbitophila: a putative component of the mitochondrial protein import system.
abstract: The Saccharomyces cerevisiae TIM10 gene encodes one of the few essential mitochondrial proteins that are required for the import of nuclear-encoded precursor proteins from the cytosol and their subsequent sorting into the different mitochondrial compartments. We have isolated and characterized a putative homologue of TIM10 from the halotolerant yeast Pichia sorbitophila. The Pichia TIM10 gene encodes a protein of 90 amino acids with 66% identity to S. cerevisiae Tim10p. It was capable of suppressing the temperature sensitivity of tim10-1 mutant in S. cerevisiae, suggesting that Pichia TIM10 is both a functional and structural homologue of S. cerevisiae TIM10. The putative Pichia TIM10 gene product contains all the four conserved cysteine residues and the two CX(3)C motifs typical of the Tim family proteins in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Using anti-Tim10p serum, Western blots detected a protein of about 10 kDa, suggesting that the Pichia Tim10p is a mitochondrial protein. The results suggest that mitochondrial import and sorting systems might be also strongly conserved in other fungi. The coding sequence of the P. sorbitophila TIM10 has been deposited in the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database under Accession No. AJ243940.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa. Gkay@maties.sun.ac.za
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kayingo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Potier
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hohmann
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Prior
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D000090622:Mitochondrial Precursor Protein Import Complex Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010843:Pichia / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D000090622:Mitochondrial Precursor Protein Import Complex Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; C107250:TIM10 protein, S cerevisiae