| Modification Notes |
The mitochondrial genome encodes for only 13 proteins, 2 rRNAs and 22 tRNAs. Required for mitochondrial protein synthesis, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are transcribed from nuclear DNA and are typically are imported to the mitochondria after translation in the cytosol. Specifically, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases catalyze the conjugation of an amino acid to its corresponding tRNA. Mitochondrial CysRs (cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase) also known as Cysteine--tRNA ligase, is a 564 amino acid protein that localizes to the mitochondrial matrix. Mitochondrial CysRs utilizes zinc as a cofactor and ATP to conjugate L-cysteine to tRNA(Cys). As a class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, mitochondrial CysRs contains a classical Rossmann fold, a domain through which it binds nucleotides, such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). |