Mitochondrial Ribosomal Protein L18 (MRPL18)

Mammalian mitochondrial ribosomal proteins are encoded by nuclear genes and help in protein synthesis within the mitochondrion.Another difference between mammalian mitoribosomes and prokaryotic ribosomes is that the latter contain a 5S rRNA. Among different species, the proteins comprising the mitoribosome differ greatly in sequence, and sometimes in biochemical properties, which prevents easy recognition by sequence homology.

MRPL18 encodes a 39S subunit protein that belongs to the L18P ribosomal protein family. Three polymorphic sites exist in this gene, one of which is three nt in length which causes an extra aa near the N-terminus. Mouse and human MRPL18 share 83.3% amino acid identity.