NMR analyses on the interactions of the yeast Tim50 C-terminal region with the presequence and Tim50 core domain.

The mitochondrial targeting signal in the presequence of mitochondrial precursor proteins is recognized by Tom20 and subsequently by Tim50 in mitochondria. Yeast Tim50 contains two presequence binding sites in the conserved core domain and in the fungi-specific C-terminal presequence binding domain (PBD). We report the NMR analyses on interactions of a shorter variant of PBD (sPBD), a shorter variant of PBD, with presequences. The presequence is recognized by sPBD in a similar manner to Tom20. sPBD can also bind to the core domain of Tim50 through the presequence binding region, which could promote transfer of the presequence from sPBD to the core domain in Tim50.