Premium
Cell Death in Protists without Mitochondria
Author(s) -
CHOSE OLIVIER,
SARDE CLAUDEOLIVIER,
NOËL CHRISTOPHE,
GERBOD DELPHINE,
JIMENEZ JUANCARLOS,
BRENNER CATHERINE,
CAPRON MONIQUE,
VISCOGLIOSI ERIC,
ROSETO ALBERTO
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1299.021
Subject(s) - mitochondrion , organelle , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , protist , trichomonas vaginalis , protozoa , apoptosis , cell , trichomonas , giardia lamblia , genome , genetics , gene
A bstract : Some protozoans, such as Trichomonad species, do not possess mitochondria. Most of the time, they harbor another type of membrane‐bounded organelle, called hydrogenosome from its capacity to produce H 2 . This is the case for the human parasite Trichomonas vaginalis . Some other parasites, such as the protist Giardia lamblia , do not harbor any of these organelles. From this observation arises naturally a naive question: How do cells die when the mitochondrion, the cornerstone of apoptotic process, is absent? Data strongly suggest that the mitochondrion and the hydrogenosome arose from a common ancestral endosymbiont. But hydrogenosomes do not appear to directly substitute for mitochondria in apoptotic functions. Thus, it appears judicious to examine more closely the genome of unicellular cells, which do not harbor mitochondria, and search for new molecules that could participate in the apoptotic process in these microorganisms.