Mitochondrial DNA, aconitase 'wraps' it up

Abstract

Mitochondria are the sites of many essential biochemical reactions, an important subset of which require proteins encoded in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). How mtDNA is regulated in response to changing cellular demands is largely unknown. A recent study documents that the mitochondrial TCA-cycle enzyme aconitase is associated with protein-mtDNA complexes called nucleoids. In this novel context, aconitase functions to stabilize mtDNA, perhaps by reversibly remodeling nucleoids to directly influence mitochondrial gene expression in response to changing cellular metabolism.