The precursor of F0‐ATPase subunit 9 was bound to mitochondria in the absence of a mitochondrial membrane potential (delta psi). Binding was mediated by a protease‐sensitive component on the mitochondrial surface. When delta psi was reestablished, bound precursor was directly imported without prior release from the mitochondrial membranes. A chimaeric protein consisting of the complete subunit 9 precursor fused to cytosolic dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) was also specifically bound to mitochondria in the absence of delta psi. Two other fusion proteins, consisting either of the entire presequence of subunit 9 and DHFR or of part of the presequence and DHFR, were imported in the presence of delta psi. In the absence of delta psi, however, specific binding to mitochondria did not take place. We suggest that the hydrophobic mature part of subunit 9 is involved in the delta psi‐independent binding of the subunit 9 precursor to receptor sites on the mitochondrial surface.

Synthesis and transport of mitochondrial proteins were followed in a cell-free homogenate of Neurospora crussa in which mitochondrial translation was inhibited. Proteins synthesized on cytoplasmic ribosomes are transferred into the mitochondrial fraction. The relative amounts of proteins which are transferred in vitro are comparable to those transferred in whole cells.Cycloheximide and puromycin inhibit the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins but not their transfer into mitochondria.The transfer of immunoprecipitablc mitochondrial proteins was demonstrated for matrix proteins, carboxyatractyloside-binding protein and cytochrome c.Import of proteins into mitochondria exhibits a degree of specificity. The transport mechanism differentiales between newly synthesized proteins and preexistent mitochondrial proteins, at least in the case of matrix proteins.In the cell-free homogenate membrane-bound ribosonies are more active in the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins than are free ribosomes. The finished translation products appear to be released from the membrane-bound ribosomes into the cytosol rather than into the membrane vesicles.The results suggest that the transport of cytoplasniically synthesized mitochondrial proteins is essentially independent of cytoplasmic translation ; that cytoplasmically synthesized mitochondrial proteins exist in an extramitochondrial pool prior to import; that the site of this pool is the cytosol for at least some of the mitochondrial proteins; and that the precursors in the extramitochondrial pool differ in structure or conformation from the functional proteins in the mitochondria.In the preceding paper we studied the transport of cytoplasmically synthesized proteins into the mitochondria in intact cells of Neurosporu crassu [l]. la whole cells, the processes of synthesis and transport are not easily separated. Furthermore, post-labelling fractionation artifacts may obscure the intracellular location of mitochondrial proteins which are on their path from the site of synthesis to the site of function.In considering systems in vitro a number of possibilities exist, ranging Crom cell-free homogenates to reconstituted systems involving isolated and purified protein and organelle components. In the present study we have investigated synthesis and transport in a cell-free homogenate. We. have employed this system in an attempt lo decide between two mechanisms currently proposed for the transport of mitochondria] proteins. The first mechanism is based on observations with whole IC'emrospora cells [l]. This mechanism proposes the existence of extramitochondrial pools of mitochondrial proteins from which they are imported into the mitochondria. The second mechanism is that proposed by Butow and his colleagues [3 -61. This latter mechanism proposes a special class of cytoplasmic ribosomes which are attached to the mitochondria at specific sites. The nascent polypeptides from these ribosomes are discharged in a vectorial manner into the mitochondria.The results we present here support our earli...

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Ribosomes from higher-plant mitochondria contain 5S rRNA, in contrast with the mitochondrial ribosomes of animals and fungi, in which such a component has not been detected. In common with the ribosomes of prokaryotes and chloroplasts, higher-plant mitochondrial ribosomes do not appear to contain an RNA equivalent to the 5.8 S rRNA that is found in eukaryoytes hydrogen-bonded to the largest of the cytoplasmic rRNA species.