labelling-visualization-mitochondrial-genome-expression-products

Labelling and Visualization of Mitochondrial Genome Expression Products in Baker's Yeast <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em>

Mitochondria are essential organelles of eukaryotic cells capable of aerobic respiration. They contain circular genome and gene expression apparatus. A ...

M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

Protein biosynthesis in mitochondria is organized in a bacterial manner. However, during evolution, mitochondrial translation mechanisms underwent many organelle-specific changes. In particular, almost all mitochondrial translation factors, being orthologous to bacterial proteins, are characterized by some unique elements of primary or secondary structure. In the case of the organellar initiation factor 3 (IF3), these elements are several dozen amino acids long N- and C-terminal extensions. This study focused on the terminal extensions of baker's yeast mitochondrial IF3, Aim23p. By in vivo deletion and complementation analysis, we show that at least one extension is necessary for Aim23p function. At the same time, human mitochondrial IF3 is fully functional in yeast mitochondria even without both terminal extensions. While  IF3 itself is poorly active in yeast mitochondria, adding Aim23p terminal extensions makes the resulting chimeric protein as functional as the cognate factor. Our results show that the terminal extensions of IF3 have evolved as the "adaptors" that accommodate the translation factor of bacterial origin to the evolutionary changed protein biosynthesis system in mitochondria.

Biological and Evolutionary Significance of Terminal Extensions of Mitochondrial Translation Initiation Factor 3.

After billions of years of evolution, mitochondrion retains its own genome, which gets expressed in mitochondrial matrix. Mitochondrial translation machinery rather differs from modern bacterial and eukaryotic cytosolic systems. Any disturbance in mitochondrial translation drastically impairs mitochondrial function. In budding yeast , deletion of the gene coding for mitochondrial translation initiation factor 3 - , leads to an imbalance in mitochondrial protein synthesis and significantly delays growth after shifting from fermentable to non-fermentable carbon sources. Molecular mechanism underlying this adaptation to respiratory growth was unknown. Here, we demonstrate that slow adaptation from glycolysis to respiration in the absence of Aim23p is accompanied by a gradual increase of cytochrome c oxidase activity and by increased levels of Tma19p protein, which protects mitochondria from oxidative stress.

 Strain Lacking Mitochondrial IF3 Shows Increased Levels of Tma19p during Adaptation to Respiratory Growth.

Mitochondria are essential organelles of eukaryotic cell that provide its respiratory function by means of the electron transfer chain. Expression of mitochondrial genes is organized in a bacterial-like manner; however multiple evolutionary differences are observed between the two systems, including translation initiation machinery. This review is dedicated to the mitochondrial translation initiation factor 3 (IF3mt), which plays a key role in the protein synthesis in mitochondria. Involvement of IF3mt in human health and disease is discussed.

Mitochondrial Translation Initiation Factor 3: Structure, Functions, Interactions, and Implication in Human Health and Disease.

The initiation of protein synthesis in bacteria is ruled by three canonical factors: IF1, IF2, and IF3. This system persists in human mitochondria; however, it functions in a rather different way due to specialization and adaptation to the organellar micro-environment. We focused on human mitochondrial IF3, which was earlier studied in vitro, but no knock-out cellular models have been published up to date. In this work, we generated human HeLa cell lines deficient in the MTIF3 gene and analyzed their mitochondrial function. Despite the lack of IF3mt in these cells, they preserved functional mitochondria capable of oxygen consumption and protein synthesis; however, the translation of ATP6 mRNA was selectively decreased which compromised the assembly of ATP synthase. Together with the analogous results obtained earlier for baker's yeast mitochondrial IF3, our findings point to a functional divergence of mitochondrial initiation factors from their bacterial ancestors.

Ivan V. Chicherin

Department of Biology,
Institute of Functional Genomics

M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

Labelling and Visualization of Mitochondrial Genome Expression Products in Baker's Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Ivan V. Chicherin

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Biology,Institute of Functional Genomics

M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University

Labelling and Visualization of Mitochondrial Genome Expression Products in Baker's Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Department of Biology,
Institute of Functional Genomics