Mechanisms of protein import across the mitochondrial outer membrane.
Mitochondria import the majority of their proteins from the cytosol. At the mitochondrial outer membrane, import is initiated through a series of reactions, which include preprotein recognition, unfolding, insertion and translocation. These processes are facilitated by a multisubunit complex, the TOM complex. Specific roles can now be assigned to several components of this complex. Although the import machinery of the outer membrane can insert and translocate a few proteins on its own, completion of translocation o f most preproteins is dependent upon coupling to both the membrane potential and mt-Hsp70/ATP-driven transport across the inner membrane, mediated by the TIM complex.
Lill
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Institut für Physiologische Chemie, Physikalische Biochemie und Zellbiologie der Universität München, Goethestr. 33, 80336 München, Germany.
Neupert
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