Following siRNA mediated knockdown, U2OS cells were collected and lysed for 10 min on ice in lysis buffer (50 mM Tris–HCl pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1% TX-100 and 2.5 mM PMSF) followed by a centrifugation step of 14 000 × g for 5 min at 4°C. 60 μg of cellular lysates were separated by SDS-PAGE followed by western blotting onto a supported nitrocellulose membranes. Membranes were probed with antibodies against proteins of interest and HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies followed by ECL detection. ECL reactions were visualized with a ChemiDoc instrument (Bio Rad). Antibodies used for Western blot detection were mtSSB (Sigma, HPA002866); TFAM (kind gift of Dr R. Wiesner); Twinkle (mouse-monoclonal, kind gift from Prof. Anu Suomalainen-Wartiovaara; see also (1 (link))); CoxII (Abcam, ab110258); PHB1 (Abcam, ab28172); MRPL3 (Abcam, ab39268); MRPS22 (ProteinTech, 10984-AP); MRPL49 (ProteinTech, 15542-AP), GRSF1 (Sigma, HPA036985), Suv3 (kind gift of Dr Roman Szczesny), Actin (Novusbio, NB600-532H).