The chemical reactions and pathways resulting in the breakdown of a mitochondrial protein. This process is necessary to maintain the healthy state of mitochondria and is thought to occur via the induction of an intramitochondrial lysosome-like organelle that acts to eliminate the damaged oxidised mitochondrial proteins without destroying the mitochondrial structure. (Gene Ontology, GO_0035694)
10 genes participating in the mitochondrial protein catabolic process biological process from the curated GO Biological Process Annotations 2025 dataset.
