Gene Loss and Error-Prone RNA Editing in the Mitochondrion of Perkinsela, an Endosymbiotic Kinetoplastid.

ABSTRACT:

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Perkinsela is an enigmatic early-branching kinetoplastid protist that lives as an obligate endosymbiont inside Paramoeba (Amoebozoa). We have sequenced the highly reduced mitochondrial genome of Perkinsela, which possesses only six protein-coding genes (cox1, cox2, cox3, cob, atp6, and rps12), despite the fact that the organelle itself contains more DNA than is present in either the host or endosymbiont nuclear genomes. An in silico analysis of two Perkinsela strains showed that mitochondrial RNA editing and processing machineries typical of kinetoplastid flagellates are generally conserved, and all mitochondrial transcripts undergo U-insertion/deletion editing. Canonical kinetoplastid mitochondrial ribosomes are also present. We have developed software tools for accurat

SUBMITTER: David V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4669381 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature