Recently, it was shown that gene conversion between the ends of linear mitochondrial chromosomes can cause telomere expansion and the duplication of subtelomeric loci. However, it is not yet known how widespread this phenomenon is and how significantly it has impacted organelle genome architecture. Using linear mitochondrial DNAs and mitochondrial plasmids from diverse eukaryotes, we argue that...

We have cloned a gene encoding a mitochondrial inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPase) in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by low stringency hybridization to PPA1, the yeast gene for cytoplasmic PPase. The new gene, PPA2, is located on chromosome 13 and encodes a protein whose sequence is 49% identical to the cytoplasmic enzyme. The protein differs from cytoplasmic PPase in that it has a leader seq...

Mitochondria are intracellular organelles where oxidative phosphorylation is carried out to complete ATP synthesis. Mitochondria have their own genome; in metazoans, this is a small, circular molecule encoding 13 electron transport proteins, 22 tRNAs, and 2 rRNAs. In invertebrates, mitochondrial gene rearrangement is common, and it is correlated with increased substitution rates. In vertebrates...

BACKGROUND Aging results in a progressive loss of skeletal muscle, a condition known as sarcopenia. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations accumulate with aging in skeletal muscle and correlate with muscle loss, although no causal relationship has been established. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We investigated the relationship between mtDNA mutations and sarcopenia at the gene expression and bi...

Pneumocystis jirovecii is an unculturable fungus and the causative agent of Pneumocystis pneumonia, a life-threatening opportunistic infection. Although molecular diagnosis is often based on the detection of mtLSU rRNA mitochondrial gene, the number of copies of mitochondrial genes had not been investigated. We developed and optimized six real-time PCR assays in order to determine the copy numb...

Importin-β is encoded by the Ketel gene in Drosophila. Upon running out of the maternal Importin-β dowry larvae without the Ketel gene slow down and before dying possess symptoms characteristic for mitochondrial cytopathies. Death of the larvae is almost certainly the consequence of ceasing import of proteins, including some of the transcription factors, into the nuclei. We report here that the...

Many years of extensive studies of metazoan mitochondrial genomes have established differences in gene arrangements and genetic codes as valuable phylogenetic markers. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of replication, transcription and the role of the control regions which cause e.g. different gene orders is important to assess the phylogenetic signal of such events. This review summarise...

The mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) gene codifies for the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) channel responsible for mitochondrial Ca(2 +) uptake. Cytosolic Ca(2 +) transients are involved in sarcomere contraction through cycles of release and storage in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. In addition cytosolic Ca(2 +) regulates various signaling cascades that eventually lead to gene expression r...

Background: Mammalian preimplantation development is a complex process involving dramatic changes in the transcriptional architecture. However, it is still unclear about the crucial transcriptional network and key hub genes that regulate the proceeding of preimplantation embryos. Materials and Methods: Through single-cell RNAsequencing (RNA-seq) of both human and mouse preimplantation embryos, ...