REVIEW: Protein Biosynthesis in Mitochondria

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A. V. Kuzmenko^1,2, S. A. Levitskii¹, E. N. Vinogradova¹, G. C. Atkinson², V. Hauryliuk², N. Zenkin³, and P. A. Kamenski^1*

¹Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1/12 Leninsky Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia; fax: +7 (495) 939-4309; E-mail: mail@mail.bio.msu.ru; peter@protein.bio.msu.ru

²Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse St. 1, 50411 Tartu, Estonia; fax: +372-737-4900; E-mail: info@tuit.ut.ee

³Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AX, United Kingdom; fax: +44-191-208-3205; E-mail: n.zenkin@ncl.ac.uk

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received December 21, 2012; Revision received March 23, 2013

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Translation, that is biosynthesis of polypeptides in accordance with information encoded in the genome, is one of the most important processes in the living cell, and it has been in the spotlight of international research for many years. The mechanisms of protein biosynthesis in bacteria and in the eukaryotic cytoplasm are now understood in great detail. However, significantly less is known about translation in eukaryotic mitochondria, which is characterized by a number of unusual features. In this review, we summarize current knowledge about mitochondrial translation in different organisms while paying special attention to the aspects of this process that differ from cytoplasmic protein biosynthesis.

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KEY WORDS: mitochondria, translation, ribosomes, translation factors

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297913080014

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