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Mitochondria are essential organelles of eukaryotic cells that play crucial roles in bioenergetics, cellular metabolism, and signaling pathways1. To properly execute these tasks, mitochondria rely on a unique set of proteins and lipids responsible for their structure and function. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been widely used as a model system for investigations on mitochondrial processes, as well as for other organelles2. The mitochondrial genome codes for only eight proteins in yeast; the vast majority of mitochondrial proteins (~99%) are encoded by nuclear genes, which are translated on cytosolic ribosomes, and subsequently imported into their correct submitochondrial compartments by sophisticated protein import machineries3,4,5. Thus, mitochondrial biogenesis depends on the coordinated expression of both the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes6,7. Genetic mutations causing defects in mitochondrial biogenesis are associated with human diseases8,9,10.
In the past two decades, high-throughput proteomic studies targeting highly-purified mitochondria resulted in a comprehensive characterization of yeast mitochondrial proteome, which has been estimated to be composed of at least 900 proteins11,12,13,14. Although these studies provided valuable information, the suborganellar localization of each protein in the four mitochondrial subcompartments, namely, the outer membrane (OM), intermembrane space (IMS), inner membrane (IM), and matrix, is still required. This question was partially addressed with proteomic-wide studies of the two smaller mitochondrial subcompartments (OM and IMS)15,16. More recently, Vögtle and collaborators made a major step forward by generating a high-quality global map of submitochondrial protein distribution in yeast. Using an integrated approach combining SILAC-based quantitative mass spectrometry, different submitochondrial fractionation protocols, and the data set from the OM and IMS proteomes, the authors assigned 818 proteins into the four mitochondrial subcompartments13.
Despite the advances achieved by these high-throughput proteomic studies, our knowledge about the submitochondrial proteome composition is far from being complete. Indeed, among 986 proteins reported by Vögtle and collaborators as being localized into yeast mitochondria, 168 could not be assigned in any of the four submitochondrial compartments13. Moreover, the authors did not provide information about the membrane topology of proteins that were predicted to be peripherally attached to the periphery of mitochondrial membranes. For example, it is not possible to know if a protein that was assigned as peripherally attached to the inner membrane is facing the matrix or the intermembrane space. Apart from these missing data from the proteome-wide studies, there are conflicting information about the suborganellar localization of a significant number of mitochondrial proteins. One example is the protease Prd1, which has been assigned as an intermembrane space protein in the common databases such as Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD) and Uniprot. Surprisingly, using a subfractionation protocol similar to that described here, Vögtle and collaborators clearly showed that Prd1 is a genuine matrix protein13. As mentioned above, the submitochondrial localization of many mitochondrial proteins needs to be elucidated or reevaluated. Here, we provide a simple and reliable protocol to determine the suborganellar localization of yeast mitochondrial proteins. This protocol was developed and optimized by various research groups and has been routinely used to determine the submitochondrial localization, as well as the membrane topology of many mitochondrial proteins.