Adenosine 5'-triphosphate stimulates the release of polypeptides from mitochondria

AbstractThere was release of polypeptides to the medium when mitochondria containing labeled proteins were incubated with a rat liver post-mitochondrial supernatant. The release of polypeptides increased with the amount of rat liver extract added. Addition of cycloheximide did not inhibit the effect. Heating the postmitochondrial supernatant did not inhibit the release of mitochondrial proteins, indicating that it was due to a heat-stable factor. The factor responsible has been isolated and identified as ATP. The presence of EDTA inhibits the release of polypeptides caused by ATP and Mg2+ stimulates it. The possible role of ATP in the turnover of mitochondrial proteins is briefly discussed.Adenosine 5'-triphosphateMitochondriaProtein turnove