The mitochondrial genome of metazoan animal typically encodes 22 tRNAs. Nematode mt-tRNAs normally lack the T-stem and instead feature a replacement loop. In the class Enoplea, putative mt-tRNAs that are even further reduced have been predicted to lack both the T- and the D-arm. Here we investigate these tRNA candidates in detail. Three lines of computational evidence support that they are indeed minimal functional mt-tRNAs: (1) the high level of conservation of both sequence and secondary structure, (2) the perfect preservation of the anticodons, and (3) the persistence of these sequence elements throughout several genome rearrangements that place them between different flanking genes.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3579883 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/rna.21630 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Aberrant Mitochondrial tRNA Genes Appear Frequently in Animal Evolution.
Genome Biol Evol
November 2024
Bioinformatics Group, Department of Computer Science & Interdisciplinary Center for Bioinformatics, Leipzig University, Härtelstraße 16-18, Leipzig D-04107, Germany.
Mitochondrial tRNAs have acquired a diverse portfolio of aberrant structures throughout metazoan evolution. With the availability of more than 12,500 mitogenome sequences, it is essential to compile a comprehensive overview of the pattern changes with regard to mitochondrial tRNA repertoire and structural variations. This, of course, requires reanalysis of the sequence data of more than 250,000 mitochondrial tRNAs with a uniform workflow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStructural studies of human fission protein FIS1 reveal a dynamic region important for GTPase DRP1 recruitment and mitochondrial fission.
J Biol Chem
December 2022
Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Electronic address:
Fission protein 1 (FIS1) and dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) were initially described as being evolutionarily conserved for mitochondrial fission, yet in humans the role of FIS1 in this process is unclear and disputed by many. In budding yeast where Fis1p helps to recruit the DRP1 ortholog from the cytoplasm to mitochondria for fission, an N-terminal "arm" of Fis1p is required for function. The yeast Fis1p arm interacts intramolecularly with a conserved tetratricopeptide repeat core and governs in vitro interactions with yeast DRP1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStructural basis for shape-selective recognition and aminoacylation of a D-armless human mitochondrial tRNA.
Nat Commun
August 2022
Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Human mitochondrial gene expression relies on the specific recognition and aminoacylation of mitochondrial tRNAs (mtRNAs) by nuclear-encoded mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (mt-aaRSs). Despite their essential role in cellular energy homeostasis, strong mutation pressure and genetic drift have led to an unparalleled sequence erosion of animal mtRNAs. The structural and functional consequences of this erosion are not understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFour new stink bug mitogenomes corroborate the internal inconsistencies in the classification of Pentatomidae (Hemiptera).
Zootaxa
March 2022
Laboratrio de Entomologia Sistemtica, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Programa de Ps-Graduao em Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, RS, Brazil.
Stink bugs (Pentatomidae) are a speciose group of insects that feed mostly on plants. Many species are considered agricultural pests of economically important crops around the globe. Mitochondrial genomes are valuable for evolutionary and phylogenetic studies, but have been little explored for Pentatomidae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdaptation of the CCA-Adding Enzyme to Miniaturized Armless tRNA Substrates.
Int J Mol Sci
November 2020
Institute for Biochemistry, Leipzig University, Brüderstraße 34, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
The mitochondrial genome of the nematode encodes for miniaturized hairpin-like tRNA molecules that lack D- as well as T-arms, strongly deviating from the consensus cloverleaf. The single tRNA nucleotidyltransferase of this organism is fully active on armless tRNAs, while the human counterpart is not able to add a complete CCA-end. Transplanting single regions of the enzyme into the human counterpart, we identified a beta-turn element of the catalytic core that-when inserted into the human enzyme-confers full CCA-adding activity on armless tRNAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!