Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Jul 20;62(3):309-320.
doi: 10.1042/EBC20170102. Print 2018 Jul 20.

Mitochondrial transcription and translation: overview

Affiliations
Review

Mitochondrial transcription and translation: overview

Aaron R D'Souza et al. Essays Biochem. .

Abstract

Mitochondria are the major source of ATP in the cell. Five multi-subunit complexes in the inner membrane of the organelle are involved in the oxidative phosphorylation required for ATP production. Thirteen subunits of these complexes are encoded by the mitochondrial genome often referred to as mtDNA. For this reason, the expression of mtDNA is vital for the assembly and functioning of the oxidative phosphorylation complexes. Defects of the mechanisms regulating mtDNA gene expression have been associated with deficiencies in assembly of these complexes, resulting in mitochondrial diseases. Recently, numerous factors involved in these processes have been identified and characterized leading to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that underlie mitochondrial diseases.

Keywords: mitochondria; translation; trascription.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no competing interests associated with the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Overview of human mitochondrial transcription, RNA processing and translation
The list of proteins mentioned in the figure are biased towards those that are associated with mitochondrial diseases, as explained in the article by Boczonadi et al. [1]. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are abbreviated as xARS and xARS2.

References

    1. Boczonadi V., Ricci G., Horvath R. (2018) Mitochondrial DNA transcription and translation: clinical syndromes. Essays Biochem., 62, 321–340 10.1042/EBC20170103 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chang D.D. and Clayton D.A. (1984) Precise identification of individual promoters for transcription of each strand of human mitochondrial DNA. Cell 36, 635–643 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90343-X - DOI - PubMed
    1. Montoya J., Christianson T., Levens D., Rabinowitz M. and Attardi G. (1982) Identification of initiation sites for heavy-strand and light-strand transcription in human mitochondrial DNA. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79, 7195–7199 10.1073/pnas.79.23.7195 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Montoya J., Gaines G.L. and Attardi G. (1983) The pattern of transcription of the human mitochondrial rRNA genes reveals two overlapping transcription units. Cell 34, 151–159 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90145-9 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Terzioglu M., Ruzzenente B., Harmel J., Mourier A., Jemt E., Lopez M.D. et al. (2013) MTERF1 binds mtDNA to prevent transcriptional interference at the light-strand promoter but is dispensable for rRNA gene transcription regulation. Cell Metab. 17, 618–626 10.1016/j.cmet.2013.03.006 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types