Enrichment and biochemical characterization of boundary membrane contact sites from rat-liver mitochondria.

A subfraction of mitochondrial membranes was prepared from osmotically lysed rat liver mitochondria by density gradient centrifugation which contained the inner boundary membrane and the contact sites between this membrane and the outer membrane. The fraction was composed of inner and outer limiting membrane components as shown by the presence of specific marker enzymes, monoamine oxidase and glycerolphosphate oxidase. Surface proteolysis analysis, studies of cytochrome c permeability, and electron microscopy revealed the localization of the inner membrane component within a right-side-out outer membrane vesicle. Moreover, the outer membrane component in this fraction exhibited a higher capacity to bind hexokinase and had a higher specific activity of glutathione transferase than the pure outer membrane. In freeze-fracture analyses the fraction showed fracture plane deflections which may be specific for hydrophobic interactions between the two membranes.