40 Years of Studying RNA Import into Mitochondria: From Basic Mechanisms to Gene Therapy Strategies

Mitochondria of many living species internalize nuclear DNA-encoded ribonucleic acids. The pools of imported RNA molecules, as well as fine mechanisms of these processes, are highly species-specific. To date, baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are the best studied in this regard. Moreover, the processes of yeast RNA mitochondrial import have been the basis of modeling several gene therapy strategies aimed to palliate negative effects of pathogenic mutations in human mitochondrial DNA. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge about the molecular events taking place in course of yeast RNA import into mitochondria. Also, we describe how this process can be used for compensation of pathogenic mutations in mitochondrial genomes of humans.