Import of a mutant mitochondrial precursor fails to respond to stimulation by a cytosolic factor.

Import of the precursor to ornithine carbamyltransferase is stimulated by a partially-purified, NEM-sensitive soluble factor from rabbit reticulocyte lysate. A mutant in which the carboxy-terminal 73 amino acids were deleted, had a sharply reduced response to this factor. The NEM-sensitive, import-stimulating factor interacts with the surface of mitochondria in the absence of precursor protein. Thus reticulocyte lysate contains an NEM-sensitive, import stimulating factor which interacts both with the surface of mitochondria and whose activity appears to be dependent upon the structure of the mature portion of the precursor.