Biosynthesis of aspartate aminotransferases. Both the higher molecular weight precursor of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase and the cytosolic isoenzyme are synthesized on free polysomes.

The site of synthesis of the higher molecular weight precursor of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (Sonderegger, P., Jaussi, R., and Christen, P. (1980) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 94, 1256-1260) has been determined by separation of free and membrane-bound polysomes under ionic conditions imitating the intracellular milieu and in vitro read-out translation of the two polysome fractions in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate. The amounts of the precursor of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase synthesized by free and membrane-bound polysomes were compared with the relative extent of the synthesized of cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase in the same fractions. Only a small (less than 10% of total) and for both isoenzymes quantitatively equivalent fraction was found to be produced by the membrane-bound polysome fraction; very likely, it has to be attributed to contaminating free polysomes. Apparently, the import of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase into the mitochondria does not involve an association of polysomes with intracellular membranes.