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Mitochondrial Aminoacyl-?RNA Synthetases

1990; Academic Press; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0079-6603(08)60625-x

2211-9108

Alexander Tzagoloff, Domenico L. Gatti, Alexandra Gampel,

Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies

This chapter explains the different aspects of the structure and function of mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Some of the discussion speculates on the broader question of how this family of enzymes may have evolved. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are important components of the translational machinery of all cells. In eukaryotes, the situation is more complex. Animals and fungi synthesize proteins in two physically separate cellular compartments, the cytoplasm and mitochondria. The contribution of mitochondria to the total cellular protein pool is minor both in terms of the number of proteins and their relative mass. Nonetheless, mitochondria have their own complete set of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, as well as tRNAs, ribosomes, and all the accessory factors necessary for chain initiation, elongation, and termination. However, there are several reasons the aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases of such specialized organelles as mitochondria and chloroplasts are of special interest. Studies of the organelle-specific synthetases enlarge the number of examples of this enzyme family and hence provide a more complete compilation of data for evaluating the evolutionary derivations of its individual members.