Skoltech CLS researchers Anastasia Chugunova, Marina Serebryakova, Mariia Rubtzova, Petr Sergiev, and Olga Dontsova have co-authored a paper “LINC00116 codes for a mitochondrial peptide linking respiration and lipid metabolism” recently published in PNAS. The scientists have shown that the gene that was previously misannotated as a long noncoding RNA LINC00116 codes a short peptide Mtln localized in mitochondria. Moreover, upon switching off the Mtln coding gene the oxygen consumption decreases due to changes in respiratory complex I activity and perturbs lipid composition of the cell. Disruption of the mitochondrial localization of the latter phenocopies Mtln inactivation. Full text of the paper is available here.