Endosymbiotic interactions in anaerobic protozoa

Authors: Hackstein J.H.P.; Vogels G.D.

Source: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Volume 71, Numbers 1-2, February 1997 , pp. 151-158(8)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Several aspects of the endosymbiosis of methanogenic archaea with anaerobic protozoa are reviewed. Special attention is payed to the role of hydrogenosomes and plastid-like organelles that seem to provide the substrates for the methanogenic endosymbionts. Evidence is presented that hydrogenosomes evolved several times in the various protoctistan taxa. Hydrogenosomes are seemingly different, and their common denominator is the production of hydrogen. The absence of nucleic acids and a protein-synthesizing machineny hampers the analysis of their divergent evolutionary history, and molecular genetic data argue not only for different but even a chimeric origin of the hydrogenosomes.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Microbiology and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, NL-6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Publication date: 1997-02-01