Why do eukaryotes have mitochondria?
Mitochondria are essential components of all eukaryotic cells but it is still not clear why.
Although most textbooks cite ATP generation as the canonical function of the organelle, there are actually many anaerobic and parasitic microbial eukaryotes that do not possess this pathway, yet they still retain minimal mitochondria that are called mitosomes.
Work published in the 3rd of April edition of Nature by Alina Goldberg, Anastasios Tsaousis, Robert Hirt and Martin Embley has now revealed that one reason why obligate intracellular parasites called Microsporidia have mitosomes, is because they contain key proteins involved in making iron sulphur (Fe-S) clusters. Fe–S clusters play diverse roles in cellular biochemistry, including a key role in the maintenance of a functional protein synthesis machinery, and they are essential for all cellular life.
The published work is part of a long-term collaboration with Professor Roland Lill and Dr Sabine Molik from Marburg University in Germany.
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