Small is big in Arabidopsis mitochondrial ribosome
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ABSTRACT: Mitochondria are responsible for energy production through aerobic respiration and represent the powerhouse of eukaryotic cells. Their metabolism and gene expression processes combine bacterial-like features and traits that evolved in eukaryotes. Among mitochondrial gene expression processes, translation remains the most elusive. In plants, while numerous pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins are involved in all steps of gene expression, their function in translation remains unclear. Here we present the biochemical characterisation of Arabidopsis mitochondrial ribosomes and identify their protein subunit composition. Complementary biochemical approaches identify 19 plant specific mitoribosome proteins, among which 10 are PPR proteins. The knock out mutations of ribosomal PPR (rPPR) genes result in distinct macroscopic phenotypes including lethality or severe growth delays. The molecular analysis of rppr1 mutants using ribosome profiling as well as the analysis of mitochondrial protein levels reveal that rPPR1 is a generic translation factor, which is a novel function for PPR proteins. Finally, single particle cryo-electron microscopy reveals the unique structural architecture of Arabidopsis mitoribosomes, characterised by a very large small ribosomal subunit, larger than the large subunit, bearing an additional RNA domain grafted onto the head. Overall, our results show that Arabidopsis mitoribosomes are substantially divergent from bacterial and other eukaryote mitoribosomes, both in terms of structure and of protein content.
ORGANISM(S): Arabidopsis thaliana
PROVIDER: GSE119655 | GEO | 2018/10/03
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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