Profiling subcellular localization of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial gene products in zebrafish

Most mitochondrial proteins are encoded by nuclear genes, synthetized in the cytosol and targeted into the organelle. To characterize the spatial organization of mitochondrial gene products in zebrafish (Danio redo), we sequenced RNA from different cellular fractions. Our results confirmed the presence of nuclear-encoded mRNA5 in the mitochondrial fraction, which in unperturbed conditions, are mainly transcripts encoding large proteins with specific properties, like transmembrane domains. To further explore the principles of mitochondrial protein compartmentalization in zebrafish, we quantified the transcriptomic changes for each subcellular fraction triggered by the chchd4a(-)(/-) mutation, causing the disorders in the mitochondrial protein import. Our results indicate that the proteostatic stress further restricts the population of transcripts on the mitochondrial surface, allowing only the largest and the most evolutionary conserved proteins to be synthetized there. We also show that many nuclear-encoded mitochondrial transcripts translated by the cytosolic ribosomes stay resistant to the global translation shutdown. Thus, vertebrates, in contrast to yeast, are not likely to use localized translation to facilitate synthesis of mitochondrial proteins under proteostatic stress conditions.

Automated summary

Most mitochondrial proteins are encoded by nuclear genes, synthesized in the cytosol, and targeted into the organelle. The presence of nuclear-encoded mRNA5 in the mitochondrial fraction confirms that large proteins with specific properties, like transmembrane domains, are predominantly encoded. Under proteostatic stress conditions, the population of transcripts on the mitochondrial surface is further restricted, allowing only the largest and most evolutionarily conserved proteins to be synthesized there.