TbPIF8, a Trypanosoma brucei protein related to the yeast Pif1 helicase, is essential for cell viability and mitochondrial genome maintenance.

ABSTRACT: The trypanosome mitochondrial genome, kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), is a massive network of interlocked DNA rings, including several thousand minicircles and dozens of maxicircles. The unusual complexity of kDNA would indicate that numerous proteins must be involved in its condensation, replication, segregation and gene expression. During our investigation of trypanosome mitochondrial PIF1-like helicases, we found that TbPIF8 is the smallest and most divergent. It lacks some conserved helicase domains, thus implying that unlike other mitochondrial PIF1-like helicases, this protein may have no enzymatic activity. TbPIF8 is positioned on the distal face of kDNA disk and its localization patterns vary with different kDNA replication stages. Stem-loop RNAi of TbPIF8 arrests cell growth and causes de

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3262056 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature