Significance
Membrane protein targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum, peroxisomes, and mitochondria requires specialized machinery to ensure the appropriate localization of proteins, which is important for defining organelle identity. Additional specificity is provided by sensing and degrading proteins that are mistargeted to an inappropriate compartment. One class of membrane proteins, which contain a hydrophobic segment at their extreme C terminus (called tail-anchored proteins), are prone to be mistargeted; however, how cells cope with this burden is unknown. In this work, we identify a conserved ATPase of the outer mitochondrial membrane, Msp1, which we propose functions as an extraction engine to remove and initiate degradation of an inappropriately targeted tail-anchored protein. In this way, Msp1 serves to enhance the fidelity of protein localization.