Transcription of Mitochondrial DNA

Abstract

While mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the simplest DNA in nature, coding for rRNAs and tRNAs, results of DNA sequence, and transcript analysis have demonstrated that both the synthesis and processing of mitochondrial RNAs involve remarkably intricate events. At one extreme, genes in animal mtDNAs are tightly packed, both DNA strands are completely transcribed (symmetric transcription), and the appearance of specific mRNAs is entirely dependent on processing at sites signalled by the sequences of the tRNAs, which abut virtually every gene. At the other extreme, gene organization in yeast (Saccharomyces) is anything but compact, with long stretches of AT-rich DNA interspaced between coding sequences and no obvious logic to the order of genes. Transcription is asymmetric and several RNAs are initiated de novo. Nevertheless, extensive RNA processing occurs due largely to the presence of split genes. RNA splicing is complex, is controlled by both mitochondrial and nuclear genes, and in some cases is accompanied by the formation of RNAs that behave as covalently closed circles. The present article reviews current knowledge of mitochondrial transcription and RNA processing in relation to possible mechanisms for the regulation of mitochondrial gene expression.