Fidelity of organellar protein targeting

The majority of cellular proteins are targeted to organelles. Cytosolic ribosomes produce these proteins as precursors with cleavable or non-cleavable targeting sequences that direct them to receptor proteins on the organelle surface. Multiple targeting factors ensure cellular sorting of the precursor proteins. In co-translational protein import, the ribosome-nascent chain complex is transported to the organellar protein translocase to couple protein synthesis and protein import. In post-translational mode, targeting factors like molecular chaperones guide the precursor proteins from ribosomes to the cell organelle. Defects in protein targeting and import cause mistargeting of proteins to different cellular compartments and challenge the balance of cellular proteostasis. Specific dislocases and degradation machineries remove such mislocalized proteins from the membrane to allow retargeting or their proteasomal turnover. In this review, we discuss targeting and quality control factors that ensure fidelity of protein targeting to mitochondria.