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Mitochondrial Nucleoid and Transcription Factor A
Author(s) -
KANKI TOMOTAKE,
NAKAYAMA HIROSHI,
SASAKI NARIE,
TAKIO KOJI,
ALAM TANFIS ISTIAQ,
HAMASAKI NAOTAKA,
KANG DONGCHON
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1293.007
Subject(s) - tfam , mitochondrial dna , nucleoid , mitochondrion , biology , histone , microbiology and biotechnology , human mitochondrial genetics , dna , genetics , mitochondrial biogenesis , gene , escherichia coli
A bstract : Nuclear DNA is tightly packed into nucleosomal structure. In contrast, human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) had long been believed to be rather naked because mitochondria lack histone. Mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), a member of a high mobility group (HMG) protein family and a first‐identified mitochondrial transcription factor, is essential for maintenance of mitochondrial DNA. Abf2, a yeast counterpart of human TFAM, is abundant enough to cover the whole region of mtDNA and to play a histone‐like role in mitochondria. Human TFAM is indeed as abundant as Abf2, suggesting that TFAM also has a histone‐like architectural role for maintenance of mtDNA. When human mitochondria are solubilized with non‐ionic detergent Nonidet‐P40 and then separated into soluble and particulate fractions, most TFAM is recovered from the particulate fraction together with mtDNA, suggesting that human mtDNA forms a nucleoid structure. TFAM is tightly associated with mtDNA as a main component of the nucleoid.