The protein import and assembly machinery of the mitochondrial outer membrane.
The process of mitochondrial protein import has been studied for many years. Despite this attention, many processes associated with mitochondrial biogenesis are poorly understood. Insight into one of these processes, assembly of beta-barrel proteins into the mitochondrial outer membrane, will be discussed. This review focuses on recent data that suggest that assembly of beta-barrel proteins into the outer mitochondrial membrane is dependent on a newly identified protein complex termed the sorting and assembly machinery (SAM complex). Members of the SAM complex have been identified in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms, suggesting that the process of beta-barrel assembly into membranes has been conserved through evolution.
Institut für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Strasse 7, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
Rebecca D
RD
Taylor
Nikolaus
N
Pfanner
D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000378:metabolism*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D033681:Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D000090622:Mitochondrial Precursor Protein Import Complex Proteins; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000378:metabolism*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism
D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D033681:Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins; D000090622:Mitochondrial Precursor Protein Import Complex Proteins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C438387:TIMM23 protein, human