We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome of an angiosperm, sugar beet (Beta vulgaris cv TK81-O). The 368 799 bp genome contains 29 protein, five rRNA and 25 tRNA genes, most of which are also shared by the mitochondrial genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, the only other completely sequenced angiosperm mitochondrial genome. However, four genes identified here (namel...

Animal mitochondrial genomes have provided large and diverse datasets for evolutionary studies. Here, the first two representative mitochondrial genomes from the family Pompilidae (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) were determined using next-generation sequencing. The sequenced region of these two mitochondrial genomes from the species Auplopus sp. and Agenioideus sp. was 16,746 bp long with an A + T con...

Mitochondria from diverse phyla, including protozoa, fungi, higher plants, and humans, import tRNAs from the cytosol in order to ensure proper mitochondrial translation. Despite the broad occurrence of this process, our understanding of tRNA import mechanisms is fragmentary, and crucial questions about their regulation remain unanswered. In the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas, a precise co...

The amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) is suggested to cause mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. The mitochondrial dehydrogenase SDR5C1 (also known as ABAD) was shown to bind Aβ and was proposed to thereby mediate mitochondrial toxicity, but the molecular mechanism has not been clarified. We recently identified SDR5C1 as an essential component of human mitochondrial RNase P and its associated...

The cytoplasmic tRNA(Lys)(CUU) (tRNA(1Lys)) is the single yeast tRNA species to be traffiked from the cytoplasm into the mitochondrial compartment of the cell. To study mechanisms of this targetting we worked out two test systems. The in vivo system based on the electroporation of intact yeast cells was used to introduce labelled tRNAs into the cytoplasm. All tRNA species tested were effectivel...

Protein synthesis involves two methionine-isoaccepting tRNAs, an initiator and an elongator. In eubacteria, mitochondria, and chloroplasts, the addition of a formyl group gives its full functional identity to initiator Met-tRNA(Met). In Escherichia coli, it has been shown that the specific action of methionyl-tRNA transformylase on Met-tRNA(f)(Met) mainly involves a set of nucleotides in the ac...

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are involved in many cellular functions distributed throughout the cellular space. In addition to their role in protein translation, these molecules are engaged in tasks as diverse as the regulation of gene expression, amino-acid synthesis, protein degradation, cell-wall synthesis, porphyrin bio synthesis, priming of replication, RNA interference and the transport of macro...

The mitochondrial genome of Trypanosoma brucei does not encode any tRNAs. Instead, mitochondrial tRNAs are synthesized in the nucleus and subsequently imported into mitochondria. The great majority of mitochondrial tRNAs have cytosolic counterparts showing identical primary sequences. The only difference found between mitochondrial and cytosolic isotypes of the tRNAs are mitochondria-specific n...

Larch mitochondria contain a'native'tRNAHis which is absent from angiosperms. Sequence comparisons of genomic DNA and cDNA obtained from unprocessed primary transcripts of the larch mitochondrial gene trnH encoding this tRNA revealed three nucleotide discrepancies. These three nucleotide alterations, in the acceptor stem, D stem and anticodon stem respectively, are conversions of genomic cytidi...

the spinocerebellar ataxias (sca) comprise a heterogeneous group of severe late-onset neurodegenerative diseases that are promoted by the expansion of a tandem-arrayed dna sequence that modifies the primary structure of the protein. method: genomic dna of 20 patients with scas was extracted from peripheral blood and screened for deletions in mitochondrial dna (mtdna). sequencing of trna(leu), t...