Sawyeria marylandensis (Heterolobosea) has a hydrogenosome with novel metabolic properties.

ABSTRACT: Protists that live under low-oxygen conditions often lack conventional mitochondria and instead possess mitochondrion-related organelles (MROs) with distinct biochemical functions. Studies of mostly parasitic organisms have suggested that these organelles could be classified into two general types: hydrogenosomes and mitosomes. Hydrogenosomes, found in parabasalids, anaerobic chytrid fungi, and ciliates, metabolize pyruvate anaerobically to generate ATP, acetate, CO(2), and hydrogen gas, employing enzymes not typically associated with mitochondria. Mitosomes that have been studied have no apparent role in energy metabolism. Recent investigations of free-living anaerobic protists have revealed a diversity of MROs with a wider array of metabolic properties that defy a simple functional class

SUBMITTER: Barbera MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3008280 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature