title: Mitochondrial genome-maintaining activity of mouse mitochondrial transcription factor A and its transcript isoform in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
abstract: Mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam) binds to and organizes mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome into a mitochondrial nucleoid (mt-nucleoid) structure, which is necessary for mtDNA transcription and maintenance. Here, we demonstrate the mtDNA-organizing activity of mouse Tfam and its transcript isoform (Tfam(iso)), which has a smaller high-mobility group (HMG)-box1 domain, using a yeast model system that contains a deletion of the yeast homolog of mouse Tfam protein, Abf2p. When the mouse Tfam genes were introduced into the ABF2 locus of yeast genome, the corresponding mouse proteins, Tfam and Tfam(iso), can functionally replace the yeast Abf2p and support mtDNA maintenance and mitochondrial biogenesis in yeast. Growth properties, mtDNA content and mitochondrial protein levels of genes encoded in the mtDNA were comparable in the strains expressing mouse proteins and the wild-type yeast strain, indicating that the proteins have robust mtDNA-maintaining and -expressing function in yeast mitochondria. These results imply that the mtDNA-organizing activities of the mouse mt-nucleoid proteins are structurally and evolutionary conserved, thus they can maintain the mtDNA of distantly related and distinctively different species, such as yeast.
authors.affiliation: Mitochondria Hub Regulation Center and Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan 602-714, Republic of Korea. youngyoon97@gmail.com
authors.forename: Young Geol
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Koob
authors.forename: Young Hyun
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Yoo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D051379:Mice; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C422562:mitochondrial transcription factor A