Mitochondrial preprotein translocase of trypanosomatids has a bacterial origin.
13.10.2011
Pusnik M, Schmidt O, Perry AJ, Oeljeklaus S, Niemann M, Warscheid B, Lithgow T, Meisinger C, Schneider A.
Curr Biol. 2011;21(20):1738-43.
We have discovered that T. brucei employs a protein import channel, termed ATOM (archaic translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane). ATOM mediates the import of nuclear-encoded proteins into mitochondria and is essential for viability of trypanosomes. It is not related to Tom40 but is instead an ortholog of a subgroup of the Omp85 protein superfamily that is involved in membrane
translocation and insertion of bacterial outer membrane proteins [9]. This suggests that the protein import channel in trypanosomes is a relic of an archaic protein transport system that was operational in the ancestor of all eukaryotes.
