The large mitochondrial genomes of angiosperms are unusually dynamic because of recombination activities involving repeated sequences. These activities generate subgenomic forms and extensive genomic variation even within the same species. Such changes in genome structure are responsible for the rapid evolution of plant mitochondrial DNA and for the variants associated with cytoplasmic male sterility and abnormal growth phenotypes. Nuclear genes modulate these processes, and over the past decade, several of these genes have been identified. They are involved mainly in pathways of DNA repair by homologous recombination and mismatch repair, which appear to be essential for the faithful replication of the mitogenome. Mutations leading to the loss of any of these activities release error-prone repair pathways, resulting in increased ectopic recombination, genome instability, and heteroplasmy. We review the present state of knowledge of the genes and pathways underlying mitochondrial genome stability.

中文翻译：

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植物线粒体基因组：突变的动力学和机制

由于涉及重复序列的重组活动，被子植物的大线粒体基因组异常动态。即使在同一物种中，这些活动也会产生亚基因组形式和广泛的基因组变异。基因组结构的这种变化是植物线粒体 DNA 快速进化以及与细胞质雄性不育和异常生长表型相关的变异的原因。核基因调节这些过程，并且在过去十年中，已经确定了其中几个基因。它们主要参与通过同源重组和错配修复的 DNA 修复途径，这似乎对有丝分裂基因组的忠实复制至关重要。导致任何这些活动丧失的突变会释放容易出错的修复途径，导致异位重组、基因组不稳定性和异质性增加。我们回顾了线粒体基因组稳定性背后的基因和途径的知识现状。