A novel component of the mitochondrial genome segregation machinery in trypanosomes
Authors:Anneliese Hoffmann1,2, Martin Jakob1, and Torsten Ochsenreiter1
doi: 10.15698/mic2016.08.519
Volume 3, pp. 352 to 354, published 28/07/2016.
1 Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
2 Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
Keywords:
mitochondrial genome segregation machinery, TAC, kDNA, Trypanosoma brucei.
Corresponding Author(s):
Conflict of interest statement:
The authors declare that no competing interest exists.
Please cite this article as:
Anneliese Hoffmann, Martin Jakob, and Torsten Ochsenreiter (2016). A novel component of the mitochondrial genome segregation machinery in trypanosomes. Microbial Cell 3(8): 352-354. doi: 10.15698/mic2016.08.519
© 2016 Hoffmann et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.
Abstract:
We recently described a new component (TAC102) of the mitochondrial genome segregation machinery (mtGSM) in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei. T. brucei belongs to a group of organisms that contain a single mitochondrial organelle with a single mitochondrial genome (mt-genome) per cell. The mt-genome consists of 5000 minicircles (1 kb) and 25 maxicircles (23 kb) that are catenated into a large network. After replication of the network its segregation is driven by the separating basal bodies, which are homologous structures to the centrioles organizing the spindle apparatus in many eukaryotes. The structure connecting the basal body to the mt-genome was named the Tripartite Attachment Complex (TAC) owing its name to the distribution across three areas in the cell including the two mitochondrial membranes.