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Plant mitochondria actively import DNA via the permeability transition pore complex
Author(s) -
Koulintchenko Milana,
Konstantinov Yuri,
Dietrich André
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1093/emboj/cdg128
Subject(s) - biology , mitochondrion , mitochondrial dna , dna , microbiology and biotechnology , adenine nucleotide translocator , organelle , biophysics , bacterial outer membrane , mitochondrial permeability transition pore , voltage dependent anion channel , biochemistry , gene , escherichia coli , apoptosis , programmed cell death
Plant mitochondria are remarkable with respect to their content in foreign, alien and plasmid‐like DNA, raising the question of the transfer of this information into the organelles. We demonstrate the existence of an active, transmembrane potential‐dependent mechanism of DNA uptake into plant mitochondria. The process is restricted to double‐strand DNA, but has no obvious sequence specificity. It is most efficient with linear fragments up to a few kilobase pairs. When containing appropriate information, imported sequences are transcribed within the organelles. The uptake likely involves the voltage‐dependent anion channel and the adenine nucleotide translocator, i.e. the core components of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore complex in animal cells, but it does not rely on known mitochondrial membrane permeabilization processes. We conclude that DNA import into plant mitochondria might represent a physiological phenomenon with some functional relevance.