How to build a ribosome from RNA fragments in Chlamydomonas mitochondria

Florent Waltz, Thalia Salinas-Giegé, Robert Englmeier, Herrade Meichel, Heddy Soufari, Lauriane Kuhn, Stefan Pfeffer, Friedrich Förster, Benjamin D. Engel, Philippe Giegé, Laurence Drouard, Yaser Hashem*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Mitochondria are the powerhouse of eukaryotic cells. They possess their own gene expression machineries where highly divergent and specialized ribosomes, named hereafter mitoribosomes, translate the few essential messenger RNAs still encoded by mitochondrial genomes. Here, we present a biochemical and structural characterization of the mitoribosome in the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, as well as a functional study of some of its specific components. Single particle cryo-electron microscopy resolves how the Chlamydomonas mitoribosome is assembled from 13 rRNA fragments encoded by separate non-contiguous gene pieces. Additional proteins, mainly OPR, PPR and mTERF helical repeat proteins, are found in Chlamydomonas mitoribosome, revealing the structure of an OPR protein in complex with its RNA binding partner. Targeted amiRNA silencing indicates that these ribosomal proteins are required for mitoribosome integrity. Finally, we use cryo-electron tomography to show that Chlamydomonas mitoribosomes are attached to the inner mitochondrial membrane via two contact points mediated by Chlamydomonas-specific proteins. Our study expands our understanding of mitoribosome diversity and the various strategies these specialized molecular machines adopt for membrane tethering.

Original languageEnglish
Article number7176
Pages (from-to)1-15
JournalNature Communications
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Dec 2021

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