JXB Advance Access originally published online on December 26, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2009 60(3):741-749; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern319
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)
RESEARCH PAPER |
Efficient mitochondrial targeting relies on co-operation of multiple protein signals in plants
1Department of Biology, 112 Science Place, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada
2Department of Energy, Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: brandizz{at}msu.edu
To date, the most prevalent model for transport of pre-proteins to plant mitochondria is based on the activity of an N-terminal extension serving as a targeting peptide. Whether the efficient delivery of proteins to mitochondria is based exclusively on the action of the N-terminal extension or also on that of other protein determinants has yet to be defined. A novel mechanism is reported here for the targeting of a plant protein, named MITS1, to mitochondria. It was found that MITS1 contains an N-terminal extension that is responsible for mitochondrial targeting. Functional dissection of this extension shows the existence of a cryptic signal for protein targeting to the secretory pathway. The first 11 amino acids of the N-terminal extension are necessary to overcome the activity of this signal sequence and target the protein to the mitochondria. These data suggest that co-operation of multiple determinants within the N-terminal extension of mitochondrial proteins may be necessary for efficient mitochondrial targeting. It was also established that the presence of a tryptophan residue toward the C-terminus of the protein is crucial for mitochondrial targeting, as mutation of this residue results in a redistribution of MITS1 to the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. These data suggest a novel targeting model whereby protein traffic to plant mitochondria is influenced by domains in the full-length protein as well as the N-terminal extension.
Key words: Plant mitochondria, secretory pathway, targeting signals
* These authors contributed equally to the work.
Received 28 August 2008; Revised 6 October 2008 Accepted 18 November 2008
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