title: Mechanisms of protein import across the mitochondrial outer membrane.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physiologische Chemie, Physikalische Biochemie und Zellbiologie der Universität München, Goethestr. 33, 80336 München, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lill
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Neupert