Abstract 1767 Investigating the ability of presequences to influence mitochondrial protein import

Mitochondria are essential organelles that house over 1,000 proteins, 99% of which are nuclear-encoded and synthesized in the cytosol. Most mitochondrial proteins are targeted to the organelle by a positively charged cleavable sequence at their N terminus called the presequence, which lacks common sequence motif and is poorly conserved. Accumulating evidence suggests that presequences encode meaningful information that influences protein uptake and thus have varying “strength”. For instance, multiple stress response models propose that stress sensing proteins contain “weak” presequences, allowing them to monitor mitochondrial fitness.