Biotecnologia e Biomateriais

Abstrato

Mitochondrial Biogenesis Discharging in Labyrinthulea

Siyuan Ding

Mitochondrial translation frequently deviates from the usual genetic code, but the full range of these modifications has yet to be identified and the molecular mechanisms behind these alterations in codon meaning are rarely investigated. The mitochondrial genetic coding in the stramenopile group Labyrinthulea (Labyrinthulomycetes) and its relatives has been studied in depth. In the genus Aplanochytrium, UAG is not a termination codon but rather encodes tyrosine, as opposed to the UAA codon's unaltered meaning. The distribution of sense-to-stop and stop-to-sense reassignments correlates with specific modifications of the mitochondrial release factor mtRF2a in different subsets of labyrinthuleans, as well as the unprecedented loss of mtRF1a in Aplanochytrium and possibly also in the LAB14 clade, suggesting a possible mechanistic basis for the observed code changes.