Uncovering the mechanism of mitochondrial translation initiation in plants.

Mitochondrial translation differs significantly from that conducted in bacteria and plastids. Recent research conducted by Tran and colleagues has unveiled the plant-specific mechanisms of mitochondrial translation initiation. The authors identified two Arabidopsis thaliana (arabidopsis) mTRAN proteins that may bind to the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of mitochondrial mRNAs by recognising newly discovered A/U-rich motifs.