Stroud DA, Becker T, Qiu J, Stojanovski D, Pfannschmidt S, Wirth C, Hunte C, Guiard B, Meisinger C, Pfanner N, Wiedemann N

The mitochondrial outer membrane contains proteinaceous machineries for the translocation of precursor proteins. The sorting and assembly machinery (SAM) is required for the insertion of β-barrel proteins into the outer membrane. Sam50 is the channel-forming core subunit of the SAM complex and belongs to the BamA/Sam50/Toc75 family of proteins that ...

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have been conserved from Gram-negative bacteria to mitochondria and chloroplasts. These proteins contain one or more N-terminal polypeptide transport-associated (POTRA) domains. POTRA domains can bind precursor proteins, however, different views exist on the role of POTRA domains in the biogenesis of β-barrel proteins. It has been suggested that the single POTRA domain of mitochondrial Sam50 plays a receptor-like function at the SAM complex. We established a system to monitor the interaction of chemical amounts of β-barrel precursor proteins with the SAM complex of wild-type and mutant yeast in organello. We report that the SAM complex lacking the POTRA domain of Sam50 efficiently binds β-barrel precursors but is impaired in the release of the precursors. These results indicate that the POTRA domain of Sam50 is not essential for recognition of β-barrel precursors but functions in a subsequent step to promote the release of precursor proteins from the SAM complex.

Date: Jun. 16, 2011

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