Structure and Function of the Mitochondrial Ribosome

Abstract

Mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes) perform protein synthesis inside mitochondria, the organelles responsible for energy conversion and adenosine triphosphate production in eukaryotic cells. Throughout evolution, mitoribosomes have become functionally specialized for synthesizing mitochondrial membrane proteins, and this has been accompanied by large changes to their structure and composition. We review recent high-resolution structural data that have provided unprecedented insight into the structure and function of mitoribosomes in mammals and fungi.

Keywords: 28S mitoribosomal subunit; 39S mitoribosomal subunit; antibiotics; cryo-electron microscopy; mitochondrial translation; ribosome evolution.