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A novel component of the mitochondrial genome segregation machinery in trypanosomes
Anneliese Hoffmann1, Martin Jakob2, Torsten Ochsenreiter2
1Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
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.