2. Academic Validation
  3. Mammalian mitochondrial RNAs are degraded in the mitochondrial intermembrane space by RNASET2

Mammalian mitochondrial RNAs are degraded in the mitochondrial intermembrane space by RNASET2

  • Protein Cell. 2017 Oct;8(10):735-749. doi: 10.1007/s13238-017-0448-9.
Peipei Liu 1,  Jinliang Huang 1,  Qian Zheng 1,  Leiming Xie 1,  Xinping Lu 1,  Jie Jin 1,  Geng Wang 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 MOE Key laboratory of Bioinformatics, Cell Biology and Development Center, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
  • 2 MOE Key laboratory of Bioinformatics, Cell Biology and Development Center, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. wangeng@biomed.tsinghua.edu.cn.
PMID: 28730546 DOI: 10.1007/s13238-017-0448-9
Abstract

Mammalian mitochondrial genome encodes a small set of tRNAs, rRNAs, and mRNAs. The RNA synthesis process has been well characterized. How the RNAs are degraded, however, is poorly understood. It was long assumed that the degradation happens in the matrix where transcription and translation machineries reside. Here we show that contrary to the assumption, mammalian mitochondrial RNA degradation occurs in the mitochondrial intermembrane space (IMS) and the IMS-localized RNASET2 is the Enzyme that degrades the RNAs. This provides a new paradigm for understanding mitochondrial RNA metabolism and transport.

Keywords

RNA degradation; RNA trafficking; RNASET2; RNase T2; decay; inner membrane; intermembrane space; mitochondria; mtRNA; ribonuclease; transport.

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