Fig. 1

Small ORFs and alternative ORFs in the human mitochondrial genome. In dark gray in the external circle: the typical 13 protein-coding genes. In gray in the external circle: the two rRNA genes. In white in the external circle: the D-loop. Arrows positioned inside the circle indicate smORFs and altORFs on the main coding 5′–3′ (frames 1, 2, and 3: black arrows) and complementary 3′–5′ (frames − 1, − 2, and − 3: white arrows) strands. In blue: the ORFs coding for the micropeptides Humanin, SHLP1-6, and MOTs-c found in the 16S and 12S rRNA genes and SHMOOSE found in the tRNA-Ser overlapping with a small portion of nad5. The putative gau gene is also shown. In pink: the eight chosen candidates for antibody production. In red: MTALTND4