Evolution of the cytosolic iron-sulfur cluster assembly machinery in Blastocystis species and other microbial eukaryotes.

ABSTRACT: The cytosolic iron/sulfur cluster assembly (CIA) machinery is responsible for the assembly of cytosolic and nuclear iron/sulfur clusters, cofactors that are vital for all living cells. This machinery is uniquely found in eukaryotes and consists of at least eight proteins in opisthokont lineages, such as animals and fungi. We sought to identify and characterize homologues of the CIA system proteins in the anaerobic stramenopile parasite Blastocystis sp. strain NandII. We identified transcripts encoding six of the components-Cia1, Cia2, MMS19, Nbp35, Nar1, and a putative Tah18-and showed using immunofluorescence microscopy, immunoelectron microscopy, and subcellular fractionation that the last three of them localized to the cytoplasm of the cell. We then used comparative genomic and phylogen

SUBMITTER: Tsaousis AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3910952 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature