Polypeptide targeting to mitochondria

1. A nucleic acid construct for the modulation of gene expression in a mitochondrion of a eukaryotic cell, said construct comprising a coding sequence encoding a zinc finger DNA-binding polypeptide comprising at least 4 zinc fingers, fused at the N-terminus to a mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) and at the C-terminus to a nuclear export signal (NES), wherein the zinc finger DNA-binding polypeptide is biased towards nuclear localization and use of the MTS alone results in a predominantly nuclear localization, and wherein the zinc finger DNA-binding polypeptide is heterologous to mitochondria.

2. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the DNA binding polypeptide binds to a target sequence in the mitochondrial genome.

3. The nucleic acid construct of claim 2 , wherein said target sequence is present in a DNA region which is associated with a disease.

4. The nucleic acid construct of claim 3 , wherein the disease is selected from the group consisting of LHON (Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy), MM (Mitochondrial Myopathy), AD (Alzeimer's Disease), LIMM (Lethal Infantile Mitochondrial Myopathy), ADPD (Alzeimer's Disease and Parkinsons's Disease), MMC (Maternal Myopathy and Cardiomyopathy), NARP (Neurogenic muscle weakness, Ataxia, and Retinitis Pigmentosa; alternate phenotype at this locus reported as Leigh Disease), FICP (Fatal Infantile Cardiomyopathy Plus, a MELAS-associated cardiomyopathy), MELAS (Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke-like episodes), LDYT (Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy and DysTonia), MERRF (Myoclonic Epilepsy and Ragged Red Muscle Fibers), MHCM (Maternally inherited Hypertrophic CardioMyopathy), CPEO (Chronic Progressive External Ophthalmoplegia), KSS (Kearns Sayre Syndrome), DM (Diabetes Mellitus), DMDF (Diabetes Mellitus+DeaFness), CIPO (Chronic Intestinal Pseudoobstruction with myopathy and Ophthalmoplegia), DEAF (Maternally inherited DEAFness or aminoglycoside-induced DEAFness), PEM (Progressive encephalopathy), SNHL (SensoriNeural Hearing Loss), aging, encephalomyopathy, FBSN (familial bilateral striatal necrosis), PEO, and SNE (subacute necrotizing encephalopathy).

5. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the DNA-binding polypeptide is fused to a functional domain.

6. The nucleic acid construct of claim 5 , wherein the functional domain is a transcriptional activation or transcriptional repression domain.

7. The nucleic acid construct of claim 5 , wherein the functional domain is obtained from a DNA-modifying enzyme.

8. The nucleic acid construct of claim 7 , wherein the DNA-modifying enzyme is selected from the group consisting of a DNA methylase and a cleavage domain of a Type IIs restriction endonuclease.

9. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the MTS is the signal peptide of a mitochondrial protein.

10. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the MTS is obtained from a protein selected from the group consisting of: human cytochrome c oxidase subunit VIII, the P1 isoform of subunit c of human ATP synthase, the F1β subunit of human ATP synthase, the aldehyde dehydrogenase targeting sequence and the BCS1 protein.

11. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the NES is obtained from a protein selected from the group consisting of: Non-structural protein 2 of MMV, Protein Kinase Inhibitor, HIV-1 Rev and MAP kinase kinase, MVM NS2, NMD3, An3, IκBα, Cyclin B1 and TFIIIA.

12. The nucleic acid construct of claim 11 , wherein the NES is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 12, SEQ ID NO: 13, SEQ ID NO: 14, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 16, SEQ ID NO: 17, SEQ ID NO: 18, SEQ ID NO: 19 and SEQ ID NO: 20.

13. An isolated eukaryotic cell comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim 1 .