Abstract 1806 Proteolytic regulation of mitochondrial chaperones in nucleoids

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is essential for eukaryotic cells because it encodes subunits of the electron transport chain, necessary for the ATP production. The expression of mtDNA is regulated by proteins associated with it. Such functional nucleoprotein complexes, namely nucleoids, undergo dynamic rearrangements in response to the metabolic status of the cell. When ATP is in abundance, nucleoids are saturated with histone-like protein, TFAM, which suppresses mtDNA expression and promotes its stability.