Identification of an outer mitochondrial membrane protein that interacts with a synthetic signal peptide

Chemical cross-linking procedures have been employed to study possible interactions between components of the mitochondrial outer membrane and NH2-terminal signal sequences located in proteins destined for import into the organelle. A synthetic peptide comprising amino acids 1-27 of pre-ornithine carbamyltransferase (pOCT) was found to interact specifically with a mitochondrial polypeptide of apparent molecular size 30 kDa. Membrane fractionation and protease accessibility analyses indicated that the polypeptide, designated p30, is located in the outer membrane. Binding of the synthetic peptide to p30 was saturable and reversible; Scatchard analysis of the binding data revealed a dissociation constant of 2 X 10(-6) M and predicts that p30 constitutes 4-10% of the outer mitochondrial membrane protein. Mild trypsin digestion of the mitochondrial surface destroyed both the ability of p30 to cross-link to the signal peptide and the ability of the organelle to import pOCT. Neither parameter was affected, however, by pretreatment of mitochondria with 1 M KCl.