Mammalian mitochondrial nucleoids: organizing an independently minded genome.
Mitochondrial DNA is arranged in nucleoprotein complexes, or nucleoids. Nucleoid proteins include not only factors involved in replication and transcription but also structural proteins required for mitochondrial DNA maintenance. Although several nucleoid proteins have been identified and characterized in yeast over the course of the past decade, little was known of mammalian mitochondrial nucleoids until recently. Two publications in the past year have expanded considerably the pool of putative mammalian mitochondrial nucleoid proteins; and analysis of one of the candidates, ATAD3p, suggests that mitochondrial nucleoid formation and division are orchestrated, not random, events.
Holt
Ian J
IJ
MRC-Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Wellcome Trust-MRC Building, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 OXY, UK. ih@mrc-dunn.cam.ac.uk
He
Jiuya
J
Mao
Chih-Chieh
CC
Boyd-Kirkup
Jerome D
JD
Martinsson
Peter
P
Sembongi
Hiroshi
H
Reyes
Aurelio
A
Spelbrink
Johannes N
JN
D000074183:ATPases Associated with Diverse Cellular Activities; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000502:physiology*; D028361:Mitochondrial Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D051336:Mitochondrial Membranes / Q000502:physiology; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000648:ultrastructure
C549686:ATAD3A protein, human; C519737:ATAD3B protein, human; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D000074183:ATPases Associated with Diverse Cellular Activities