Do crystal structures of mitochondrial processing peptidase reveal the mode for specific cleavage of import signal sequences?
MPP bound two mitochondrial import presequence peptides in extended conformations in a large polar cavity. The presequence conformations differ from the amphiphilic helical conformation recognized by mitochondrial import components. Our findings suggest that the presequences adopt context-dependent conformations through mitochondrial import and processing, helical for recognition by mitochondrial import machinery and extended for cleavage by the main processing component.
The FLAIR analysis applied in this study is a powerful tool to quantify signal changes of the amygdala and hippocampus in limbic encephalitis and hippocampal sclerosis. It significantly increases the diagnostic sensitivity in limbic encephalitis in comparison to conventional visual analysis. Furthermore, the method provides an interesting insight into the distinct properties of these two disease entities on MRI, indicating a predominant affection of the amygdala in limbic encephalitis, whereas the affection of the hippocampus is far less pronounced when compared to hippocampal sclerosis.