Mitochondrial enzyme rhodanese is essential for 5 S ribosomal RNA import into human mitochondria.

ABSTRACT: 5 S rRNA is an essential component of ribosomes. In eukaryotic cells, it is distinguished by particularly complex intracellular traffic, including nuclear export and re-import. The finding that in mammalian cells 5 S rRNA can eventually escape its usual circuit toward nascent ribosomes to get imported into mitochondria has made the scheme more complex, and it has raised questions about both the mechanism of 5 S rRNA mitochondrial targeting and its function inside the organelle. Previously, we showed that import of 5 S rRNA into mitochondria requires unknown cytosolic proteins. Here, one of them was identified as mitochondrial thiosulfate sulfurtransferase, rhodanese. Rhodanese in its misfolded form was found to possess a strong and specific 5 S rRNA binding activity, exploiting sites found

SUBMITTER: Smirnov A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2945573 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature