Cloning Expression and Biochemical Characterization of The Frataxin Homolog From Arabidopsis Thaliana (Atfh)

BUSI, M.V; BURGOS, J.L; ZABALETA,E; ARAYA, A; GOMÉZ-CASATI, D.F

Simposio; XXXIX Reunion Anual. Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en bioquimica y Biología Molecular; 2003

Frataxin is a nuclear encoded mitocohondrial  protein required for maintenance of noral  mitochondrial iron levels and respiration. This protein is highly conserved from bacteria to mammals. It has been suggested that frataxin could play the same role in all these organisms, but its precise  function reains unclear. It has been also predicted the role of this protein in iron-sulfur cluster protein assembly. Thus, plant frataxin homologue might be involved inthe assembly of the respiratory chain complexes at the inner membrane in plant mitochondrias. Our general working hypotesis is that frataxin null mutants are defective in Fe-S cluster assembly and result in abnormal.iron trafficking and Fe-S protein deficiency within plant cells.