mitochondrial outer membrane translocase complex

GO:0005742 · Other · Multiprotein complex · Proposed

A large complex of the mitochondrial outer membrane that mediates transport of proteins into all mitochondrial compartments. [GO:0005742]

Synonyms: GIP complex; mitochondrion outer membrane translocase complex

Part of: mitochondrial outer membrane (GO:0005741)

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:2759 Eukaryota — VARIABLE: TOM complexes occur in canonical mitochondria of eukaryotes that retain the canonical mitochondrial outer membrane. [GO:0005742]
NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding-yeast mitochondria contain TOM import machinery in the outer mitochondrial membrane. [DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2009.08.005]

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Budding-yeast model used to dissect TOM-dependent mitochondrial preprotein import pathways. [DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2009.08.005]

protein import into mitochondrial matrix GO:0030150 — The TOM complex provides the mitochondrial outer-membrane entry step for precursor proteins that continue into the matrix.
- GO:0005742 GO:0005742 defines the TOM complex as a mitochondrial outer-membrane complex that transports proteins into mitochondrial compartments.
- DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2009.08.005 Chacinska et al. 2009 review TOM as the outer-membrane entry gate for mitochondrial preproteins, including precursors that continue through TIM23-PAM into the matrix.

The TOM complex resides in the mitochondrial outer membrane and provides the entry gate for imported preproteins.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
mitochondrial outer membrane translocase complex	is part of	mitochondrial outer membrane	`GO:0005742` GO:0005742 places the TOM complex in the mitochondrial outer membrane.
mitochondrial outer membrane translocase complex	provides entry for	protein import into mitochondrial matrix	`DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2009.08.005` Chacinska et al. 2009 review TOM entry and downstream TIM23-PAM presequence import into the mitochondrial matrix.

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral component groundings for bona fide Tom constituent subfamilies before adding subunit-level rows. GO exactly grounds the TOM complex itself, but this record does not assert InterPro, Pfam, NCBIfam, or UniProt family CURIEs for individual Tom subunits until those families are curated exactly and separated from downstream TIM/PAM protein-import machinery.

GO:0005742 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the mitochondrial outer membrane translocase complex.
GO:0098799 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for outer mitochondrial membrane protein complexes.
GO:0005741 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the mitochondrial outer membrane that contains the TOM complex.
GO:0030150 Gene Ontology biological-process term for protein import into the mitochondrial matrix.
DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2009.08.005 Chacinska et al. 2009, 'Importing mitochondrial proteins: machineries and mechanisms', Cell.

2026-09-14T00:10:28Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-14T00:10:56Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added GO synonymy, outer-mitochondrial-membrane-protein-complex parentage, mitochondrial-outer-membrane parthood, Eukaryota and Saccharomyces scope, matrix-import function evidence, a nonmechanistic TOM import graph, and a Tom-subunit boundary TODO.