About this Research Topic

Background

Mitochondria and chloroplasts contain their own genomes and gene expression machinery. Nevertheless, the vast majority of mitochondrial and plastid proteins are encoded by the nuclear genome. Therefore, proper operation of these organelles requires seamless integration of their genomes with the nuclear genome.

Mitochondria tackle multiple metabolic tasks such as ATP production, fatty acid oxidation, parts of the urea cycle and haem synthesis, one-carbon metabolism, calcium turnover, and many others. These organelles are also involved in metabolism of precursors and substrates for epigenetic regulation, such as acetyl-coenzyme A, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), S-adenosyl methionine, and alpha-ketoglutarate. They also regulate redox balance of the cell, taking part in generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reducing equivalents. In turn, the generation of ROS by mitochondria is tightly regulated by the nuclear-encoded proteins.

Mitochondria have been found to play important roles in aging, regeneration, cellular differentiation, apoptosis, and activation of defence mechanisms in the response to stressors, also known as hormesis.

Many of these aspects are already extensively studied, although still many questions remain unresolved. In particular, the co-evolution of the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, which have significantly different mutation rates and different inheritance patterns, is poorly understood. Mitochondria are responsive to numerous factors that influence cells. Hence, they act in concert with nucleus-linked signalling, providing coherent cellular responses, many details of which are not yet discovered.

From the perspective of the ecosystem, chloroplasts perform two main tasks: they generate oxygen from water and produce sugars by fixing carbon dioxide via the Calvin cycle using light energy. It is widely accepted that bacterial thylakoids and chloroplasts contributed to the Great Oxidation Event and, thereby, drove the evolution of the entire antioxidant defence machinery of contemporary prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The co-evolution of mitochondria, chloroplasts, and the nucleus is an emerging but very promising field with numerous puzzles, including evolution of ROS and redox signalling, evolutionary divergence between mitochondrial and chloroplast electron-transport chains, and molecular bases of cytonuclear incompatibility (including mitonuclear conflict and interorganellar competition).

The aim of this Research Topic is to collect articles that shed light on
• Peculiarities of the interaction between proteins encoded by mitochondrial, plastid, and nuclear genes,
• The influence of external (e.g., macronutrient balance, drugs, or lifestyle) and internal (e.g., mutations) factors on selection of specific variants of mitochondrial DNA and regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis,
• The role of nuclear proteins in mitochondrial and plastid quality control and repair,
• Regulation of ROS production by signalling machinery encoded by nuclear genes,
• Origins and operation of mitochondrial and plastid signalling machineries that influence expression of nuclear genes,
• Origins of ROS and antioxidant machinery of mitochondria and chloroplasts,
• Evolution of cooperation between mitochondria, chloroplasts, and the nucleus at the level of gene products and transcriptional co-regulation,
• Molecular co-evolution of nuclear and mitochondrial, as well as nuclear and plastid, genomes,
• The role mitochondria-nucleus communication plays in human disorders,

Papers can be Original Research, Methods, Hypothesis and Theory, or Reviews.

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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