Reference - PMID:29458562 - The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe Mtf2 is required for mitochondrial cox1 gene expression.
Reference summary
- PubMed ID
- PMID:29458562
- Title
- The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe Mtf2 is required for mitochondrial cox1 gene expression.
- Authors
- Liu J, Li Y, Chen J, Wang Y, Zou M, Su R, Huang Y
- Citation
- Microbiology (Reading) 2018 Mar;164(3):400-409
- Publication year
- 2018
- Abstract
- Mitochondrial gene expression is essential for adenosine triphosphate synthesis via oxidative phosphorylation, which is the universal energy currency of cells. Here, we report the identification and characterization of a homologue of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mtf2 (also called Nam1) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The Δmtf2 mutant with the intron-containing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) exhibited impaired growth on a rich medium containing the non-fermentable carbon source glycerol, suggesting that mtf2 is involved in mitochondrial function. mtf2 deletion in a mitochondrial intron-containing background resulted in a barely detectable level of the cox1 mRNA and a reduction in the level of the cob1 mRNA, and severely impaired cox1 translation. In contrast, mtf2 deletion in a mitochondrial intron-less background did not affect the levels of cox1 and cob1 mRNAs. However, Cox1 synthesis could not be restored to the control level in the Δmtf2 mutant with intron-less mtDNA. Our results suggest that unlike its counterpart in S. cerevisiae which plays a general role in synthesis of mtDNA-encoded proteins, S. pombe Mtf2 primarily functions in cox1 translation and the effect of mtf2 deletion on splicing of introns in mtDNA is likely due to a deficiency in the synthesis of intron-encoded maturases.
