Puromycin inhibits protein import into mitochondria by interfering with an intramitochondrial ATP-dependent reaction.

We have performed experiments which demonstrate that puromycin inhibits the import of proteins into mitochondria in in vitro reactions containing mitochondria isolated from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and precursor proteins synthesized in a nuclease-treated rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Puromycin inhibited the import of several precursor proteins including; a fusion protein consisting of the first 22 N-terminal residues of yeast cytochrome oxidase subunit IV fused to mouse dihydrofolate reductase, both a destabilized and truncated form of this same fusion protein, the beta-subunit of the yeast mitochondrial F1-ATPase and yeast alcohol dehydrogenase III. The insertion of the yeast outer mitochondrial protein porin was not inhibited by puromycin. Puromycin-induced import inhibition could be overcome by adding additional ATP to the import reactions. However, if access of ATP to the mitochondrial matrix was prevented by blocking the adenine nucleotide translocase with carboxyatractyloside, ATP addition was unable to overcome the inhibitory effect of puromycin on protein import. Collectively, these results demonstrate that puromycin inhibits protein import into mitochondria by interfering with an ATP-dependent step in the import process and that the ATP-dependent component in the reaction is located inside the inner mitochondrial membrane. In addition to supporting the view that ATP is required in the matrix for efficient protein import, these results may provide a useful tool for identifying the ATP-binding components of the import apparatus.