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Protein Biosynthesis in Mitochondria: Past Simple, Present Perfect, Future Indefinite

Biochemistry (Moscow) volume 85, pages 257–263 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Mitochondria are obligate organelles of most eukaryotic cells that perform many different functions important for cellular homeostasis. The main role of mitochondria is supplying cells with energy in a form of ATP, which is synthesized in a chain of oxidative phosphorylation reactions on the organelle inner membrane. It is commonly believed now that mitochondria have the endosymbiotic origin. In the course of evolution, they have lost most of their genetic material as a result of genome reduction and gene transfer to the nucleus. The majority of mitochondrial proteins are synthesized in the cytosol and then imported to the mitochondria. However, almost all known mitochondria still contain genomes that are maintained and expressed. The processes of protein biosynthesis in the mitochondria — mitochondrial translation — substantially differs from the analogous processes in bacteria and the cytosol of eukaryotic cells. Mitochondrial translation is characterized by a high degree of specialization and specific regulatory mechanisms. In this review, we analyze available information on the common principles of mitochondrial translation with emphasis on the molecular mechanisms of translation initiation in the mitochondria of yeast and mammalian cells.

Abbreviations

fMet-tRNA:

formylmethionine-tRNA

mtIF2 and mtIF3:

translation initiation factors 2 and 3, respectively

5′-UTR:

5′-untranslated region of mRNA

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Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234, Moscow, Russia

    S. A. Levitskii, M. V. Baleva, I. V. Chicherin, I. A. Krasheninnikov & P. A. Kamenski

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  1. S. A. Levitskii
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  2. M. V. Baleva
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  3. I. V. Chicherin
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  4. I. A. Krasheninnikov
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  5. P. A. Kamenski
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. A. Kamenski.

Additional information

Russian Text © The Author(s), 2020, published in Biokhimiya, 2020, Vol. 85, No. 3, pp. 299–306.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project 17-14-01005; testing hypotheses on the evolution of mitochondrial translation apparatus) and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 19-14-50206).

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The authors declare no conflict of interest in financial or any other sphere.

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This article does not contain description of studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Levitskii, S.A., Baleva, M.V., Chicherin, I.V. et al. Protein Biosynthesis in Mitochondria: Past Simple, Present Perfect, Future Indefinite. Biochemistry Moscow 85, 257–263 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0006297920030013

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Keywords

  • mitochondria
  • translation
  • initiation
  • translation factor
  • initiation factor