Family mTERF

The mitochondrial termination factor family (mTERF) were thought in animal models to be comprised of DNA-binding regulators of mitochondrial transcription.More recently, they have been recognized as important players in organellar gene expression not necessarily acting as transcription factors,but rather blocking transcription acting in antisense or by playing a role in ribosomal biogenesis (PMID:25582570). Angiosperms have the highest number of mTERFs out of all eukaryotes and expansion of the family has been proposed to be important to the evolution of land plants (PMID:23087700).For instance, Arabidopsis thaliana has 35 mTERF proteins, 17 of which are mitochondrial targeted, 11 of which are chloroplastic,and 1 that was localized in the cytoplasm (PMID:21464319).Molecular mechanisms for mTERFs action in plants is not yet fully understood, but for few mTERFs (two in Arabidopsis and one in Maize) a molecular function as splicing factors have been characterized (one in chloroplasts ZmMTERF4, encoded by the gene GRMZM2G029933; and two in mitochondria AtMTERF4 and AtMTERF15, encoded by the genes At4g02990 and At1g74120 respectively) (PMID:24500208) (PMID:25402171).