Monocercomonoides sp. Shed Their Mitochondria Naturally

Abstract

The unicellular Monocercomonoides sp. lacks traces of mitochondria even though it is considered a standard eukaryotic cell in other respects, according to Anna Karnkowska at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, and her collaborators from Dalhousie University in Halifax, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, all in Canada. Thus, the mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster assembly pathway, thought to be conserved in all eukaryotic cells is missing, and, in this case, replaced by a cytosolic sulfur mobilization system (SUF) acquired from bacteria—making Monocercomonoides sp. lineage the first known naturally amitochondriate eukaryote. Details appeared May 23, 2016 in Current Biology (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.053).