Inheritance of the reduced mitochondria of Giardia intestinalis is coupled to the flagellar maturation cycle

Authors:

Tůmová, P., Voleman, L., Klingl, A., Nohýnková, E., Wanner, G., & Doležal, P.

Keywords:

Mitochondrial inheritance, Mitosomes, mitochondrial evolution, Flagellum, Cytoskeleton, Cell cycle, Mitochondrial division, Protist, Giardia

Abstract:

The presence of mitochondria is a distinguishing feature between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. It is currently accepted that the evolutionary origin of mitochondria coincided with the formation of eukaryotes and from that point control of mitochondrial inheritance was required. Yet, the way the mitochondrial presence has been maintained throughout the eukaryotic cell cycle remains a matter of study. Eukaryotes control mitochondrial inheritance mainly due to the presence of the genetic component; still only little is known about the segregation of mitochondria to daughter cells during cell division. Additionally, anaerobic eukaryotic microbes evolved a variety of genomeless mitochondria-related organelles (MROs), which could be theoretically assembled de novo, providing a distinct mechanistic basis for maintenance of stable mitochondrial numbers. Here, we approach this problem by studying the structure and inheritance of the protist Giardia intestinalis MROs known as mitosomes.

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