Lectures and seminars Karolinska Institutet Research Lectures at Nobel Forum with Nikolaus Pfanner
"Mitochondrial machineries for import and assembly of proteins"
Welcome to a lecture at Nobel Forum with Professor Nikolaus Pfanner on Thursday 30 May 2024, at 16:00. Refreshments will be served in the Gallery after the lecture.
Presenter
Nikolaus Pfanner, Chair of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Freiburg, Germany
Mitochondria fulfil central functions in bioenergetics, cellular metabolism, quality control and signaling. Defects of mitochondria have been linked to various diseases, particularly of the nervous system, heart and muscles. The lecture will address how mitochondria import about 1,000 different proteins from the cytosol via specific membrane-bound preprotein translocases, how the proteins are sorted to their correct intramitochondrial location, and how protein transport is connected to the characteristic membrane architecture of mitochondria. Protein translocases do not function as independent units, but are integrated into a network of machineries that function in bioenergetics, metabolism, membrane morphology and formation of organelle contact sites, indicating a higher-level organization of cell organelles.