Evolution of mitochondrial protein biogenesis.
Mitochondria and the nucleus are key features that distinguish eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic cells. Mitochondria originated from a bacterium that was endosymbiotically taken up by another cell more than a billion years ago. Subsequently, most mitochondrial genes were transferred and integrated into the host cell's genome, making the evolution of pathways for specific import of mitochondrial proteins necessary. The mitochondrial protein translocation machineries are composed of numerous subunits. Interestingly, many of these subunits are at least in part derived from bacterial proteins, although only few of them functioned in bacterial protein translocation. We propose that the primitive alpha-proteobacterium, which was once taken up by the eukaryote ancestor cell, contained a number of components that were utilized for the generation of mitochondrial import machineries. Many bacterial components of seemingly unrelated pathways were integrated to form the modern cooperative mitochondria-specific protein translocation system.
Institut für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie, ZBMZ, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
Stephan
S
Kutik
David A
DA
Stroud
Nils
N
Wiedemann
Nikolaus
N
Pfanner
D020561:Alphaproteobacteria / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins