What can we learn from structures of mitochondrial complexes?

一、报告题目 What can we learn from structures of mitochondrial complexes? 二、主讲人 Alexey Amunts (Stockholm University) 三、报告时间 2024年1月11日 9：30–11:30 四、报告地点 华岗苑东楼E119 腾讯会议：688 588 8863 五、摘要 The mitoribosome translates specific mitochondrial mRNAs and regulates energy production that is a signature of all eukaryotic life forms. We present cryo-EM analyses of its assembly intermediates, mRNA binding process, and nascent polypeptide delivery to the membrane. To study the assembly mechanism, we determined a series of the small mitoribosomal subunit intermediates in complex with auxiliary factorsthat explain how action of step-specific factors establishes the catalytic mitoribosome. A delivery of mRNA is then performed by a helical repeat factor LRPPRC that forms a stable complex with a small binding partner SLIRP.In mammals,LRPPRC stabilises mRNAs co-transcriptionally, thus it links the entire gene expression system. Through the translation cycle, a nascent polypeptide is delivered to the mitochondrial inner membrane, and we report the mitoribosome structure bound to the insertase OXA1, which elucidates the basis forprotein synthesis couplingto membrane delivery. Together with experimental identification of functionally non-protein cofactors and specific rRNA and protein modifications, the data illuminate principal components responsible for the translation of genetic material in mitochondria. 六、主讲人简介 Alexey Amunts earned his PhD from Tel Aviv University for work on a plant Photosystem I, and did a postdoc at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge on cryo-EM studies of a mitoribosome. In 2016, he established an independent group at Stockholm University focusing on mechanisms of mitochondrial translation and bioenergetics, and since 2020 he is an Associate Professor. The group studies mitochondrial protein synthesis and energy production at the molecular and cellular level, and examines how these fundamental processes are affected by natural selection and disease. He is currently a visiting Professor at Westlake University. 七、主办单位 非线性期望前沿科学中心 数学与交叉科学研究中心 中俄数学中心青岛基地