Translocase Of Inner Mitochondrial Membrane 50 Homolog (TIMM50)

Tim50, a component of the yeast Tim23 import machinery, which mediates translocation of presequence-containing proteins across the mitochondrial inner membrane. By searching sequence databases, they identified open reading frames encoding proteins with similarity to Tim50 and with a putative mitochondrial presequence in the genomes of evolutionarily distant organisms, including human.Tim50 was found to interact with the N-terminal intermembrane space domain of Tim23. Functional defects of Tim50 either by depletion of the protein or addition of anti-Tim50 antibodies blocked the protein translocation across the inner membrane. A translocation intermediate accumulated at the translocator of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOM) complex was cross-linked to Tim50.