Co-translational protein targeting to mitochondria in the context of co-translational protein maturation

Mitochondria import the majority of their proteins from the cytosol, creating a fundamental challenge: precursor proteins must be synthesized, maintained in an import-competent state, and delivered to mitochondrial translocases without premature folding or aggregation. While mitochondrial protein import has been considered a post-translational process, growing evidence shows that a subset of mitochondrial proteins is synthesized in proximity to the organelle. We term this process co-translational targeting, or local translation. It may lead to direct structural coupling of protein synthesis and import, which we term co-translational translocation. New approaches, including selective ribosome profiling, proximity labeling, and RNA imaging, reveal that mitochondrial mRNA localization is highly dynamic and can be driven by both RNA-based and translation-dependent mechanisms. In contrast to the well-defined signal recognition particle pathway at the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondrial targeting appears to rely on more flexible mechanisms shaped by nascent-chain properties, translation elongation, and coding-sequence features beyond the targeting signal. We discuss how these processes may support mitochondrial biogenesis and proteostasis while also creating vulnerabilities associated with ribosome stalling and precursor quality control. Together, recent findings position mitochondrial protein targeting as an integral part of cellular protein biogenesis and highlight key open questions in the coordination of translation and organelle function.