Factors governing nonoverlapping substrate specificity by mitochondrial inner membrane peptidase.
At least three peptidases are involved in cleaving presequences from imported mitochondrial proteins. One of the peptidase, the inner membrane peptidase, has two catalytic subunits, Imp1p and Imp2p, which are structurally related but functionally distinct in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Whereas both subunits are members of the type I signal peptidase family, they exhibit nonoverlapping substrate specificities. A clue to the substrate specificity mechanism has come from our discovery of the importance not only of the -1 and -3 residues in the signal peptides cleaved by Imp1p and Imp2p but also the +1 cargo residues attached to the signal peptides. We specifically find that Imp1p prefers substrates having a negatively charged residue (Asp or Glu) at the +1 position, whereas Imp2p prefers substrates having the Met residue at the +1 position. We further suggest that the conformation of the cargo is important for substrate recognition by Imp2p. A role for the cargo in presequence recognition distinguishes Imp1p and Imp2p from other type I signal peptidases.
Luo
Wentian
W
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2363, USA. wentian.luo@vanderbilt.edu
Chen
Xuemin
X
Fang
Hong
H
Green
Neil
N
D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000201:enzymology; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology*; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013379:Substrate Specificity
D010447:Peptide Hydrolases