RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Architecture of chloroplast TOC-TIC translocon supercomplex JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2022.11.20.517165 DO 10.1101/2022.11.20.517165 A1 Hao Liu A1 Anjie Li A1 Jean-David Rochaix A1 Zhenfeng Liu YR 2022 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/11/20/2022.11.20.517165.abstract AB Chloroplasts rely on the translocon complexes in the outer and inner envelope membranes (termed TOC and TIC, respectively) to import thousands of different nuclear-encoded proteins from the cytosol1–4. While previous studies indicated that the TOC and TIC complexes may assemble into larger supercomplexes5–7, the overall architectures of the TOC-TIC supercomplexes and the mechanism of preprotein translocation are elusive. Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the TOC-TIC supercomplex from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at an overall resolution of 2.8 Å. The major subunits of the TOC complex (Toc75, Toc90 and Toc34) and TIC complex (Tic214, Tic20, Tic100 and Tic56), three chloroplast translocon-associated proteins (Ctap3, Ctap4 and Ctap5) and three newly-identified small inner-membrane proteins (Simp1-3) have been located in the supercomplex. As the largest protein, Tic214 traverses the inner membrane, the intermembrane space and the outer membrane, connecting the TOC complex with the TIC proteins. An inositol hexaphosphate (InsP6 or I6P) molecule is located at the Tic214-Toc90 interface and stabilizes their assembly. Moreover, four lipid molecules are located within or above an inner-membrane funnel formed by Tic214, Tic20, Simp1 and Ctap5. Furthermore, multiple potential pathways found in the TOC-TIC supercomplex may support translocation of different substrate preproteins into chloroplasts.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.