Concatenated mitochondrial DNA of the coccidian parasite Eimeria tenella.
Apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, pathogens causing malaria, and the genera Babesia and Theileria, aetiological agents of piroplasmosis, are closely related. However, their mitochondrial (mt) genome structures are highly divergent: Plasmodium has a concatemer of 6-kb unit and Babesia/Theileria a monomer of 6.6- to 8.2-kb with terminal inverted repeats. Fragmentation of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and gene arrangements are remarkably distinctive. To elucidate the evolutionary origin of this structural divergence, we determined the mt genome of Eimeria tenella, pathogens of coccidiosis in domestic fowls. Analysis revealed that E. tenella mt genome was concatemeric with similar protein-coding genes and rRNA gene fragments to Plasmodium. Copy number was 50-fold of the nuclear genome. Evolution of structural divergence in the apicomplexan mt genomes is discussed.
International Research Center of Infectious Diseases, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Kenji
K
Hikosaka
Yutaka
Y
Nakai
Yoh-ichi
Y
Watanabe
Shin-Ichiro
S
Tachibana
Nobuko
N
Arisue
Nirianne Marie Q
NM
Palacpac
Tomoko
T
Toyama
Hajime
H
Honma
Toshihiro
T
Horii
Kiyoshi
K
Kita
Kazuyuki
K
Tanabe
D000818:Animals; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D016786:Eimeria tenella / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome; D010802:Phylogeny; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal