Bio Background |
Mammalian mitochondrial ribosomal proteins are encoded by nuclear genes and help in protein synthesis within the mitochondrion. Mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes) consist of a small 28S subunit and a large 39S subunit. They have an estimated 75% protein to rRNA composition compared to prokaryotic ribosomes, where this ratio is reversed. Another difference between mammalian mitoribosomes and prokaryotic ribosomes is that the latter contain a 5S rRNA. Among different species, the proteins comprising the mitoribosome differ greatly in sequence, and sometimes in biochemical properties, which prevents easy recognition by sequence homology. MRPL24 is a 39S subunit protein which is more than twice the size of its E.coli counterpart (EcoL24). |
Bio References |
Zhang, Z., et al., Genomics 81(5):468-480 (2003). O'Brien, T.W., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 275(24):18153-18159 (2000). Kenmochi, N., et al., Genomics 77 (1-2), 65-70 (2001). |