Edited by
F.U. Hartl, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
Description
A large number of newly-synthesized polypeptides must cross one or several intracellular membranes to reach their functional locations
in the eukaryotic cell. The mechanisms of protein trafficking, in particular the post-translational targeting and membrane translocation
of proteins, are of fundamental biological importance and are the focus of intensive research world-wide. For more than 15 years, mitochondria
have served as the paradigm organelle system to study these processes. Although key questions, such as how precisely proteins cross a
membrane, still remain to be answered, exciting progress has been made in understanding the basic pathways of protein import into mitochondria
and the components involved. In addition to a fascinating richness and complexity in detail, the analysis of mitochondrial protein import
has revealed mechanistic principles of general significance: Major discoveries include the demonstration of the requirement of an unfolded
state for translocation and of the essential role of molecular chaperones on both sides of the membranes in maintaining a translocation-competent
conformation and in protein folding after import. It is becoming clear how a polypeptide chain is "reeled" across the membrane in an
ATP-dependent process by the functional cooperation of membrane proteins, presumably constituting part of a transmembrane channel, with
peripheral components at the trans-side of the membrane.
In this volume, eminent experts in the field take the time to review the
central aspects of mitochondrial biogenesis. The logical order of the 16 chapters is determined by the sequence of steps during protein
import, starting with the events taking place in the cytosol, followed by the recognition of targeting signals, the translocation of
precursor proteins across the outer and inner membranes, their proteolytic processing and intramitochondrial sorting, and finally their
folding and oligomeric assembly. In addition, the mechanisms involved in the export of mitochondrially encoded proteins as well as recent
advances in understanding the division and inheritance of mitochondria will be discussed.
Included in series
Advances in Molecular and Cell Biology
