Why mitochondria need a genome revisited

In this paper, we experimentally address the debate about why functional transfer of mitochondrial genes to the nucleus has been halted in some organismal groups and why cytosolic expression of mitochondrial proteins has proven remarkably difficult. By expressing all 13 human mitochondrial-encoded genes with strong mitochondrial-targeting sequences in the cytosol of human cells, we show that all proteins, except ATP8, are transported to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). These results confirm and extend previous findings based on three mitochondrial genes lacking mitochondrial-targeting sequences that also were relocated to the ER during cytosolic expression. We conclude that subcellular protein targeting constitutes a major barrier to functional transfer of mitochondrial genes to the nuclear genome.