Biogenesis of mitochondrial β-barrel proteins: the POTRA domain is involved in precursor release from the SAM complex

The sorting and assembly machinery (SAM) of mitochondria is essential for the sorting of β-barrel proteins. Different views have been presented on the role of polypeptide transport–associated (POTRA) domains in protein sorting. We show that the mitochondrial POTRA domain promotes the release of precursor proteins from the SAM complex.
The mitochondrial outer membrane contains proteinaceous machineries for the translocation of precursor proteins. The sorting and assembly machinery (SAM) is required for the insertion of β‑barrel proteins into the outer membrane. Sam50 is the channel-forming core subunit of the SAM complex and belongs to the BamA/Sam50/Toc75 family of proteins that have been conserved from Gram-negative bacteria to mitochondria and chloroplasts. These proteins contain one or more N-terminal polypeptide transport-associated (POTRA) domains. POTRA domains can bind precursor proteins, however, different views exist on the role of POTRA domains in the biogenesis of β-barrel proteins. It has been suggested that the single POTRA domain of mitochondrial Sam50 plays a receptor-like function at the SAM complex. We established a system to monitor the interaction of chemical amounts of β-barrel precursor proteins with the SAM complex of wild-type and mutant yeast in organello. We report that the SAM complex lacking the POTRA domain of Sam50 efficiently binds β-barrel precursors, but is impaired in the release of the precursors. These results indicate the POTRA domain of Sam50 is not essential for recognition of β-barrel precursors but functions in a subsequent step to promote the release of precursor proteins from the SAM complex.