The human mitochondrial genome may code for more than 13 proteins

Abstract

The human mitochondrial (mt) DNA is commonly described as a small, maternally inherited molecule that encodes 13 protein components of the oxidative phosphorylation system and 24 structural RNAs required for their translation. However, recent studies indicate that the human mtDNA has a larger functional repertoire than previously believed. This paper briefly summarizes these studies, which suggest to reconsider our way to describe the human mitochondrial DNA as it may code for more than 13 proteins.

Large gene overlaps and tRNA processing in the compact mitochondrial genome of the crustaceanArmadillidium vulgare

“…8 Large overlaps between protein coding genes were also reported in cnidarians and vertebrates. 7,45,46 When looking for bizarre tRNA genes expressed from mtDNA, the investigation is usually oriented toward intergenic regions. Here, we show the necessity to screen for tRNA genes all along the DNA sequence.…”

The Dictyostelium model for mitochondrial biology and disease

“…Respiratory chain 2,3,4,4L,5,6,7,9,11 (Ogawa et al, 2000). Human mitochondrial data from (Anderson et al, 1981, Capt et al, 2016.…”

Mitochondrial activity and dynamics changes regarding metabolism in ageing and obesity

“…Interestingly, treatment with MOTS-C in mice prevent agedependent and high-fat diet induced insulin resistance and obesity indicating an important role of mitochondria in the control of fat metabolism probably producing prolongevity effects Lee et al, 2015). Other mitochondrial-derived peptide is humanin, a 24 aminoacid peptifde encoded within the 16S ribosomal RNA gene (Capt et al, 2016), this peptide has been proposed to produce strong cytoprotective actions against various stress and diseases (Lee et al, 2013a). Humanin has demonstrated protective capacity in age-related diseases such as T2DM and Alzheimer's disease (Mahboobi et al, 2014) and is able to restore mitochondrial function after oxidative injury in retinal pigment epithelial cells (Sreekumar et al, 2016).…”