bims-mitran 2026-01-11 papers

Issue of 2026–01–11
two papers selected by
Andreas Kohler, Umeå University

Mol Cell. 2026 Jan 08. pii: S1097-2765(25)01013-5. [Epub ahead of print]86(1): 6-8

Don't forget protein synthesis! Mitochondria of cancer cells import glutamine to fuel metabolism and to charge tRNAs for translation.

Yury S Bykov, Johannes M Herrmann.

In this issue of Molecular Cell, Zhu et al.1 show that mitochondria of cancer cells rely on the import of glutamine not only to fuel metabolite synthesis via the tricarboxylic acid cycle but also to charge mt-tRNAGln to allow mitochondrial protein synthesis and respiration.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2025.12.014

bioRxiv. 2025 Dec 30. pii: 2025.12.30.697032. [Epub ahead of print]

Missing steps of mitochondrial translation initiation identified in plants.

Vasileios Skaltsogiannis, Heddy Soufari, Philippe Giegé.

Translation initiation, the first step of the translation cycle, involves initiation factors (mtIF) 2 and 3 in mitochondria. mtIF3 release from the ribosomal small subunit was believed to be a prerequisite for the recruitment of the initiator tRNA. Here we use cryogenic electron microscopy to characterize plant mitochondria pre-initiation complexes and to reveal how plant mtIF3 binds the initiator tRNA and facilitates its accommodation in the decoding center.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.30.697032