Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Matters Arising
  • Published:

Reply to: Reevaluating the role of human mitochondrial uL18m in the cytosolic stress response

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 28, pages 476–477 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

The Original Article was published on 31 May 2021

replying to Choi, A. & Barrientos, A. Nature Structural & Molecular Biolology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-021-00599-1 (2020)

Choi and Barrientos have raised specific concerns about data presented in Fig. 6 of our previous publication1. These data demonstrate that small interfering-RNA-mediated knockdown of the mitochondrial ribosomal protein MRPL18 (uL18m hereafter) attenuates Hsp70 induction after heat stress in HeLa cells. Using the human cell lines HeLa and U87, Choi and Barrientos observed little difference of Hsp70 levels after silencing MRPL18 for 14 or 72 h. This discrepancy might be due to differences in cell lines or reagents used by two laboratories. For instance, we noticed variations in the levels of heat-shock-induced Hsp70 in both studies. It is also worth noting that we predominantly used mouse embryonic fibroblasts in our study1. The observed impact of uL18m knockdown on Hsp70 translation was much more robust in mouse embryonic fibroblasts compared to HeLa cells. Clear phenotypic differences in the heat-shock response between human and mouse cell lines have long been appreciated by researchers working in this field, and rodent cells are often the cell system of choice for the analysis of heat-shock responses.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Effects of uL18m knockdown on Hsp70 expression.

Data availability

Source data are provided with this paper.

References

  1. Zhang, X. et al. Translational control of the cytosolic stress response by mitochondrial ribosomal protein L18. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 22, 404–410 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Smirnov, A., Entelis, N., Martin, R. P. & Tarassov, I. Biological significance of 5S rRNA import into human mitochondria: role of ribosomal protein MRP-L18. Genes Dev. 25, 1289–1305 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Greber, B. J. & Ban, N. Structure and function of the mitochondrial ribosome. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 85, 103–132 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Xue, S. & Barna, M. Specialized ribosomes: a new frontier in gene regulation and organismal biology. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 13, 355–369 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by US National Institutes of Health (grant no. R01GM1222814) to S.-B.Q.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Xingqian Zhang, Quanquan Ji & Shu-Bing Qian

Authors
  1. Xingqian Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Quanquan Ji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shu-Bing Qian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

X.Z. is the main contributor to the original study. Q.J. conducted the experiments shown in Fig. 1. S.-B.Q. wrote the text.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shu-Bing Qian.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Anke Sparmann was the primary editor on this article and managed its editorial process and peer review in collaboration with the rest of the editorial team.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Unprocessed western blots.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, X., Ji, Q. & Qian, SB. Reply to: Reevaluating the role of human mitochondrial uL18m in the cytosolic stress response. Nat Struct Mol Biol 28, 476–477 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-021-00600-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-021-00600-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing