Decoding mitochondrial proteomes of diverse eukaryotes

Our textbook view of mitochondria, which has been shaped by studies in animals and yeast, fails to do justice to the organelle's broader eukaryotic diversity. While most mitochondria retain a tiny genome, the overwhelming majority of their proteins are nuclear-encoded and vary extensively across lineages. To map this diversity, the MitoCarta Tree of Life Consortium developed experimental and computational workflows to generate high-accuracy mitochondrial proteomes across diverse eukaryotes—helping to lay a foundation for comparative mitochondrial biology with broad implications for physiology, evolution, and disease.