Inner Mitochondrial Membrane Peptidase 1 Like Protein (IMMP1L)

The mitochondrial inner membrane peptidase (IMP) complex generates mature, active proteins in the mitochondrial intermembrane space by proteolytically removing the mitochondrial targeting presequence of nuclear-encoded proteins. IMP1 and IMP2 (IMMP2L) are the catalytic subunits of the IMP complex.By searching databases for homologs of yeast Imp1, Burri et al. (2005) identified human and mouse IMMP1L, which they called IMP1. The deduced 132-amino acid human IMP1 protein contains conserved catalytic serine and lysine residues and a characteristic arg-X5-pro motif. Mouse Imp1 localized to mitochondria in transfected yeast cells.mouse Imp1 and Imp2 functioned as catalytic IMP subunits and activated Diablo, a proapoptotic protein, in mitochondria.