Mitochondria play a crucial role in the metabolism of mammalian cells.
Mitochondria contain their own genome and are capable of transcription and translation.
The genetic code is altered in this organelle, the transfer RNAs and mRNAs have numerous unusual features and the ribosomes show significant differences from ribosomes of other translational systems. Our present objective is to combine the techniques of biochemistry and molecular biology to develop an understanding of the mechanism of protein synthesis in animal liver mitochondria. We have purified three factors required for the process of chain elongation and one factor required for the initiation of protein synthesis in animal mitochondria. Large amounts of these proteins are now being prepared by over-expression in E. coli for use in mechanistic studies. The bulk of the mammalian mitochondrial ribosome consists of proteins.