ATP5MJ (MLQ/6.8PL) encodes a small mitochondrial proteolipid that post-transcriptionally controls the abundance of the ATP synthase complex PMID:24330338. Its knockdown reduces the mitochondrial population of ATP synthase without altering the mRNA levels of ATP synthase α- and β-subunits, and lowers mitochondrial ATP synthesis activity, slows cell growth, and sensitizes cells to glucose deprivation, establishing it as a determinant of assembled ATP synthase levels rather than a transcriptional regulator PMID:24330338. The ATP5MJ 3' UTR harbors a functional SECIS element that binds SECISBP2 and supports UGA readthrough for selenocysteine insertion, linking the transcript to selenoprotein synthesis machinery PMID:41201471. Beyond these observations, the structural basis of its association with ATP synthase and its mechanism of action have not been characterized in the available corpus.
| Year | Confidence | Finding | PMIDs | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Medium | MLQ (ATP5MJ/6.8PL) knockdown in HeLa cells reduces the population of ATP synthase in mitochondria without affecting mRNA levels of ATP synthase α- and β-subunits, indicating that MLQ controls ATP synthase abundance post-transcriptionally. Knockdown cells show decreased mitochondrial ATP synthesis activity, slower growth, and increased vulnerability to glucose deprivation. | PMID:24330338 | Genes to cells : devoted to molecular & cellular mechanisms |
| 2014 | Low | The 6.8 kDa mitochondrial proteolipid MLQ (ATP5MJ) was identified as differentially expressed in mitochondria isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of type 2 diabetic patients compared to healthy controls, placing it among ATP synthase-related proteins altered in disease. | PMID:25420343 | European journal of mass spectrometry (Chichester, England) |
| 2025 | Medium | The 3' UTR of ATP5MJ mRNA contains a functional SECIS (selenocysteine insertion sequence) element, as validated by luciferase assays and fusion to known selenoprotein RNAs, indicating that ATP5MJ transcripts can support UGA stop codon readthrough for selenocysteine insertion. | PMID:41201471 | Redox biology |