The Role of Charge in Protein Targeting Evolution

Two eukaryotic compartments are of endosymbiotic origin, the mitochondrion and plastid. These organelles need to import hundreds of proteins from the cytosol. The import machineries of both are of independent origin, but function in a similar fashion and recognize N-terminal targeting sequences that also share similarities. Targeting, however, is generally specific, even though plastid targeting evolved in the presence of established mitochondrial targeting. Here we review current advances on protein import into mitochondria and plastids from diverse eukaryotic lineages and highlight the impact of charged amino acids in targeting. Their presence or absence alone can determine localization, and comparisons across diverse eukaryotes, and their different types of mitochondria and plastids, uncover unexplored avenues of protein import research.