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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancing Techniques and Discoveries in Protein Synthesis and Assembly Through Innovative Mitochondrial Research
Published on: June 7, 2024
Programmed translational bypassing elements in mitochondria: structure, mobility, and evolutionary origin
Jozef Nosek1, Lubomir Tomaska2, Gertraud Burger3
1Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynska dolina CH-1, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Abstract:
Programmed translational bypassing enables ribosomes to 'ignore' a precise mRNA interval of several dozen nucleotides. Well-characterized bypassed sequences include hop and byp elements, present in bacteriophage T4 and mitochondria of the yeast Magnusiomyces capitatus, respectively. The bypassing mechanism of byps is probably similar to that of hop, yet the former appears more effective and less constrained as to sequence context. Furthermore, both elements are mobile but hop moves as part of a cassette including a homing endonuclease, whereas byps seem to spread like miniature DNA transposable elements known as GC clusters. Here, we argue that hop and byps arose independently by convergent evolution, and that byps evolved in magnusiomycete mitochondria due to (as yet unknown) alterations of the mitochondrial translation machinery.
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