[Proteins associated with mitochondrial DNA protect it against the action of X-rays and hydrogen peroxide]

It has been suggested in a number of investigations that the high vulnerability of mitochondrial DNA to reactive oxygen species and other damaging agents is due to the absence in mitochondria of histones complexed with DNA. In the present study it was shown that DNA-binding proteins of mitochondrial nucleoids were able to shield mitochondrial DNA from X-ray radiation and hydrogen peroxide, as nuclear histones did. Mitochondria, mitochondrial nucleoid proteins, and histones were isolated from mouse liver cells. The degree of damage to or protection of mitochondrial DNA was assessed from the yield of its PCR amplification product. The in vitro experiments demonstrated that mouse mitochondrial DNA, when in complex with mitochondrial nucleoids or nuclear histones, was damaged much less by radiation and/or hydrogen peroxide than in the absence of these proteins and histones. No significant difference between mitochondrial nucleoid proteins and nuclear histones was revealed in their efficiency to protect mitochondrial DNA from the damaging effect of radiation and hydrogen peroxide. It is likely that the nucleoid proteins in the mitochondria shield mitochondrial DNA against the attack of reactive oxygen species, thus significantly decreasing the level of the oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA.