Evidence Supporting an Antimicrobial Origin of Targeting Peptides to Endosymbiotic Organelles.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondria and chloroplasts emerged from primary endosymbiosis. Most proteins of the endosymbiont were subsequently expressed in the nucleo-cytosol of the host and organelle-targeted via the acquisition of N-terminal presequences, whose evolutionary origin remains enigmatic. Using a quantitative assessment of their physico-chemical properties, we show that organelle targeting peptides, which are distinct from signal peptides targeting other subcellular compartments, group with a subset of antimicrobial peptides. We demonstrate that extant antimicrobial peptides target a fluorescent reporter to either the mitochondria or the chloroplast in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and, conversely, that extant targeting peptides still display antimicrobial activity. Thus, we provide strong

SUBMITTER: Garrido C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7463930 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature