Mitochondrial remnant organelles of Giardia function in iron-sulphur protein maturation

Jorge Tovar (), Gloria León-Avila, Lidya B Sánchez, Robert Sutak, Jan Tachezy, Mark van der Giezen, Manuel Hernández, Miklós Müller and John M. Lucocq
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Jorge Tovar: University of London
Gloria León-Avila: University of London
Lidya B Sánchez: The Rockefeller University
Robert Sutak: Faculty of Science, Charles University
Jan Tachezy: Faculty of Science, Charles University
Mark van der Giezen: University of London
Manuel Hernández: University of London
Miklós Müller: The Rockefeller University
John M. Lucocq: School of Life Sciences, WTB/MSI complex, University of Dundee

Nature, 2003, vol. 426, issue 6963, 172-176

Abstract: Abstract Giardia intestinalis (syn. lamblia) is one of the most widespread intestinal protozoan pathogens worldwide, causing hundreds of thousands of cases of diarrhoea each year1. Giardia is a member of the diplomonads, often described as an ancient protist group whose primitive nature is suggested by the lack of typical eukaryotic organelles (for example, mitochondria, peroxisomes), the presence of a poorly developed endomembrane system and by their early branching in a number of gene phylogenies1,2. The discovery of nuclear genes of putative mitochondrial ancestry in Giardia3,4,5,6,7 and the recent identification of mitochondrial remnant organelles in amitochondrial protists such as Entamoeba histolytica8,9 and Trachipleistophora hominis10 suggest that the eukaryotic amitochondrial state is not a primitive condition but is rather the result of reductive evolution. Using an in vitro protein reconstitution assay and specific antibodies against IscS and IscU—two mitochondrial marker proteins involved in iron–sulphur cluster biosynthesis—here we demonstrate that Giardia contains mitochondrial remnant organelles (mitosomes) bounded by double membranes that function in iron–sulphur protein maturation. Our results indicate that Giardia is not primitively amitochondrial and that it has retained a functional organelle derived from the original mitochondrial endosymbiont.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01945

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