Isolation of yeast mitochondria by differential centrifugation

The isolation of intact and functional mitochondria is a powerful approach to characterize and study this organelle. The classical biochemical method of differential centrifugation is routinely used to isolate mitochondria. This method has several advantages, such as a high yield and easy adaptability. The isolated mitochondria are physiologically active and can be used for a variety of follow-up experiments, for example protein import and respiration measurements. Here, we describe the procedure to purify mitochondria from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In addition, two approaches are introduced to assess the quality of isolated mitochondria, by limited proteinase K digestion or measurement of the membrane potential.