Implication of bidirectional promoters containing duplicated GGAA motifs of mitochondrial function-associated genes

Abstract

Mitochondria are well known as the primary required organelle in all eukaryotic cells. They have their own mtDNA containing genes that encode tRNAs, rRNAs and a set of functional proteins required for energy (ATP) production. However, almost all (99%) of mitochondrial proteins are encoded by host nuclear genes. Therefore, expression of mitochondrial protein-encoding genes should be regulated similarly to genes that are present in the host nuclear chromosomes. Interestingly, from genomic database assisted surveillance, it was revealed that a lot of mitochondrial function associated protein-encoding genes are oppositely linked in a head-head manner. If the two head-head conjugated genes are regulated by the same transcription factor(s), their expression would be dependent on the direction of transcription machinery that contains RNA polymerase II to execute mRNA synthesis. In this article, we will focus on several examples of the mitochondrial and the partner gene sets and discuss putative functions of transcription factor binding elements in the bidirectional promoters of mitochondrial function-associated genes in chromosomes.