Structural identity between the NH2-terminal domain of the rat and human ornithine carbamyltransferase “targeting” sequences

Processing of artificial peptide-DNA-conjugates by the mitochondrial intermediate peptidase (MIP)

Import of DNA from the cytoplasm into the mitochondrial matrix is an obligatory step for an in organello site-directed mutagenesis or gene therapy approach on mitochondrial DNA diseases. In this context, we have developed an artificial DNA translocation vector that is composed of the mitochondrial signal peptide of the ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) and a DNA moiety. While this vector is capable of directing attached passenger molecules to the mitochondrial matrix, the recognition of this artificial molecule by the endogenous mitochondrial signal peptide processing machinery as well as the cleavage of the peptide plays a pivotal role in the release of the attached DNA. To study the proteolytic processing of the artificial vector, various signal peptide-DNA-conjugates were treated with purified mitochondrial intermediate peptidase. When the leader peptide is directly linked to the DNA moiety without an intervening spacer, MIP processing is prevented. Cleavage of the peptide can be restored, however, when the first ten amino acid residues of the mature part of OTC are appended at the carboxy-terminal end of the signal peptide. Our results show that artificial peptide-DNA-conjugates are recognized by the mitochondrial proteolytic machinery, and therefore an interference of the peptide with the DNA function can be excluded.

Studies on protein processing for membrane-bound spinach leaf mitochondrial processing peptidase integrated into the cytochrome bc1 complex and the soluble rat liver matrix mitochondrial processing peptidase

The plant mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP) that catalyses the cleavage of the presequences from precursor proteins during or after protein import is a membrane-bound enzyme that constitutes an integral part of the bc1 complex of the respiratory chain. In contrast, MPP from mammals is soluble in the matrix space and does not form part of the respiratory chain. In the present study, we have compared the substrate specificity of the isolated spinach leaf bc1/MPP with rat liver MPP using synthetic signal peptides and different mitochondrial precursor proteins. Inhibition studies of processing with synthetic peptides showed a similar inhibition pattern for plant and rat MPP activity. A peptide derived from the presequence of rat liver mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) was a potent inhibitor of the spinach and rat MPP. Two nonprocessed signal peptides, rhodanese and linker-deleted ALDH (a form of ALDH that lacks the RGP linker connecting two helices in the presequence) had lower inhibitory effects towards each protease. The signal peptide from thiolase, another nonprocessed protein, had little inhibitory effect on MPP. Peptides derived from presequence of the plant Nicotiana plumbaginifolia F1 beta also showed a similar inhibitory pattern with rat MPP as with spinach MPP processing. In-vitro synthesised precursors of plant N. plumbaginifolia F1 beta and rat liver ALDH were cleaved to mature form by both spinach and rat MPP. However, the efficiency of processing was higher with the homologous precursor. Linker-deleted ALDH, rhodanese, and thiolase were not processed by the mammalian or plant MPP. However, both forms of MPP cleaved a mutated form of rhodanese that possesses a typical MPP cleavage motif, RXY S. Addition of the same cleavage motif to thiolase did not result in processing by either MPP. These results show that similar higher-order structural elements upstream from the cleavage site are important for processing by both the membrane-bound plant and the soluble mammalian MPP.

Role for the mitochondrial inner membrane in the maturation of the precursor to ornithine carbamyl transferase

The precursor to ornithine carbamyl transferase (pOCT) is cleaved at two N-terminal sites when imported into intact mitochondria but only at the N-proximal site when incubated with a membrane-free mitochondrial lysate or matrix fraction. Disruption of the mitochondrial membrane system by sonication, freeze-thaw, or lysis with non-ionic detergents blocks the processing of pOCT to its mature form. Mitoplasts prepared from protease-inactivated, import-incompetent mitochondria recover full processing activity; disruption of the inner membrane impairs the maturation process i.e. causes the loss of the mitoplasts' ability to transform pOCT into OCT. The data reveal a dependency of a maturation event on a "specific" interaction between a precursor protein and the mitochondrial inner membrane probably to position and/or to expose the correct N-distal cleavage site of the presequence.