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The intermembrane space of mitochondria contains a conserved machinery for
the oxidative folding of proteins. This disulfide relay consists of several factors
that undergo redox cycles to transfer electrons from substrates to cytochrome c
of the respiratory chain. By use of a reconstituted in vitro system, we could recently show that the oxidoreductase Mia40 is sufficient for full oxidation of substrate proteins and that reduced glutathione strongly improves the efficiency of this system, presumably by preventing the accumulation of kinetically trapped oxidation intermediates.
For further information see Mol Cell 37, 516-528 .