title: Mitochondrial translation in trypanosomatids: a novel target for chemotherapy?
abstract: Trypanosomatids cause widespread disease in humans and animals. Treatment of many of these diseases is hampered by the lack of efficient and safe drugs. New strategies for drug development are therefore urgently needed. It has long been known that the single mitochondrion of trypanosomatids exhibits many unique features. Recently, the mitochondrial translation machinery of trypanosomatids has been the focus of several studies, which revealed interesting variations to the mammalian system. It is the aim of this article to review these unique features and to discuss them in the larger biological context. It is our opinion that some of these features represent promising novel targets for chemotherapeutic intervention that should be studied in more detail.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestr. 3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. niemann@dcb.unibe.ch
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niemann
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cristodero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001226:Aspartate-tRNA Ligase / Q000378:metabolism; D055808:Drug Discovery; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006019:Glycolysis; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D017393:RNA Editing; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000378:metabolism; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D014352:Trypanosomiasis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D014369:Tryptophan-tRNA Ligase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012343:RNA, Transfer; D001226:Aspartate-tRNA Ligase; D014369:Tryptophan-tRNA Ligase