Synthesis of mitochondrial proteins.

Abstract

The recent discovery that the ubiquitous energy-transducing organelle of eukaryotic cells, the mitochondrion, contains its own DNA, distinct from that of the nucleus (for recent reviews, see 1-4), has generated intensive investigations in a number of related areas. They have made accessible possible answers to such fundamental questions as the nature and extent of the genetic and biogenetic autonomy of the organelle; the origin, mode of transmission, and significance of extrachromosomal, non-Mendelian hereditary determinants; and the whole chain of events that must intervene in the course of the expression of the mitochondrial genome. Central to this area is the problem of mitochondrial protein synthesis, both in vivo and in vitro; known now for some 13 years (5,6), it has been raised from its former status of relative obscurity as a laboratory curiosity to one of the fashionable fields of inquiry of contemporary biochemistry and molecular biology. Since the topic has been the subject of several recent and comprehensive reviews (7ߝ11), I shall restrict my presentation, in the main, to our own investigations with the unicellular eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae or baker’s yeast.KeywordsMitochondrial ProteinCytochrome OxidaseEthidium BromideCatabolite RepressionFusidic AcidThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.