REVIEW: Diversity and Evolution of Mitochondrial Translation Apparatus

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Mariya V. Baleva¹, Ulyana E. Piunova¹, Ivan V. Chicherin¹, Sergey A. Levitskii¹, and Piotr A. Kamenski^1,a*

¹Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234 Moscow, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received July 18, 2023; Revised September 25, 2023; Accepted September 26, 2023

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The evolution of mitochondria has proceeded independently in different eukaryotic lines, which is reflected in the diversity of mitochondrial genomes and mechanisms of their expression in eukaryotic species. Mitochondria have lost most of bacterial ancestor genes by transferring them to the nucleus or eliminating them. However, mitochondria of almost all eukaryotic cells still retain relatively small genomes, as well as their replication, transcription, and translation apparatuses. The dependence on the nuclear genome, specific features of mitochondrial transcripts, and synthesis of highly hydrophobic membrane proteins in the mitochondria have led to significant changes in the translation apparatus inherited from the bacterial ancestor, which retained the basic structure necessary for protein synthesis but became more specialized and labile. In this review, we discuss specific properties of translation initiation in the mitochondria and how the evolution of mitochondria affected the functions of main factors initiating protein biosynthesis in these organelles.

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KEY WORDS: mitochondria, translation initiation factors, regulation of translation, translation

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297923110135

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