DATE2025.11.13 #Press Releases

Visualizing the Dynamics of Mitochondrial Translation

-A comprehensive, high-resolution method reveals new insights into the cell’s “powerhouse”-

Summary

A joint research team led by Shintaro Iwasaki (Team Leader, Laboratory for RNA System Biochemistry, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research), together with Taisei Wakigawa, Mari Mito, Haruna Yamashiro (at the time of research), Kotaro Tomuro, Yuichi Shichino (now Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba), Osamu Nureki, Yuzuru Itoh, Yushin Ando, Takeo Suzuki, Asuteka Nagao, Fan-Yan Wei, Haruna Tani, Kazuhito Tomizawa, Takeshi Chujo, and Tsutomu Suzuki, has developed a novel high-precision method to monitor the dynamics of protein synthesis (translation) within mitochondria. Using this approach, the team uncovered the complex behavior of mitochondrial translation and its dysregulation in disease conditions.

These findings are expected to advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying mitochondrial energy metabolism in humans, as well as disorders linked to aberrant mitochondrial translation, such as mitochondrial diseases.

In human cells, protein synthesis occurs not only in the cytoplasm but also within mitochondria. However, until now, no method had been available to comprehensively and quantitatively analyze mitochondrial translation at high resolution across multiple samples.

In this study, the researchers established a new technique called MitoIP-Thor-Ribo-Seq, which enables detailed analysis of mitochondrial translation speed, the enhancing effects of mitochondrial tRNA (mt-tRNA) modifications on translation, and the translational dysregulation observed in cells derived from patients with mitochondrial diseases. This work reveals the intricate dynamics of mitochondrial translation and provides a new framework for understanding mitochondrial function.

The results of this research were published online in the journal Molecular Cell on November 12, 2025 (JST: November 13).

Figure：Dynamics and complexity of mitochondrial translation revealed by the MitoIP-Thor-Ribo-Seq method

Links

RIKEN, Tohoku University, Kumamoto University, University of Tsukuba, and the Graduate Schools of Science and Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Journals

Journal name	Molecular Cell
Title of paper	Monitoring the complexity and dynamics of mitochondrial translation