Methods to analyze mitochondrial protein translocation in plant mitochondria.

Abstract

Complex processes have evolved in plants to import proteins into mitochondria. Investigating these processes in plants provides insights into the specialised machinery and pathways that have evolved to cope with; (1) the immobile nature of plants that results in exposure to environmental stresses, and (2) the more complex cell environment due to the presence of plastids, the most prevalent being chloropalst in leaves. In this chapter, we present detailed protocols for the isolation of respiratory competent, coupled mitochondria from Arabidopsis thaliana, conducting protein import assays, and analyzing protein assembly into large multi-subunit complexes. Additionally, we present straightforward protocols for examining the localization of fluorescently tagged proteins to organelles such as mitochondria through protoplast transfections.