InterPro domain: IPR037365

Protein slowmo (Slmo) is a mitochondrial protein from Drosophila involved in development of the nervous system [ 1 ] and germline proliferation [ 2 ]. Slmo contains a conserved PRELI/MSF1 domain, found in proteins from a wide variety of eukaryotic organisms [ 3 ]. Slmo is a homologue of yeast UPS proteins Ups1, Ups2, and Ups3, that control phospholipid metabolism in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Humans possess four principal homologues of the Ups family, namely PRELID1 (also known as PRELI), PRELID2, SLMO1 and SLMO2 (also termed PRELID3a and PRELID3b) [ 4 ].

The Ups family is evolutionary conserved from yeast to man, and together with its mitochondrial chaperones (TRIAP1/Mdm35), represent a unique heterodimeric lipid transfer system. In yeast mitochondria, Ups1 and Ups2 form tight complexes with Mdm35 and together they regulate the subsequent biosynthesis of cardiolipin and phosphatidylethanolamine [ 4 ].

1. Mutation in slowmo causes defects in Drosophila larval locomotor behaviour. Invert. Neurosci. 5, 65-75
2. Slowmo is required for Drosophila germline proliferation. Genesis 45, 66-75
3. A novel family of mitochondrial proteins is represented by the Drosophila genes slmo, preli-like and real-time. Dev. Genes Evol. 215, 248-54
4. Structural insight into the TRIAP1/PRELI-like domain family of mitochondrial phospholipid transfer complexes. EMBO Rep. 16, 824-35