Mitochondrial DNA Structure in Trypanosoma cruzi

Kinetoplastids display a single, large mitochondrion per cell, with their mitochondrial DNA referred to as the kinetoplast. This kinetoplast is a network of concatenated circular molecules comprising a maxicircle (20–64 kb) and up to thousands of minicircles varying in size depending on the species...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Herreros Cabello, Alfonso, Callejas Hernández, Francisco, Fresno Escudero, Manuel, Gironés Pujol, Nuria
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2025
País:España
Recursos:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositório:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/717940
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/717940
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens14010073
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:kinetoplast
maxicircles
minicircles
Trypanosoma cruzi
Biología y Biomedicina / Biología
Descrição
Resumo:Kinetoplastids display a single, large mitochondrion per cell, with their mitochondrial DNA referred to as the kinetoplast. This kinetoplast is a network of concatenated circular molecules comprising a maxicircle (20–64 kb) and up to thousands of minicircles varying in size depending on the species (0.5–10 kb). In Trypanosoma cruzi, maxicircles contain typical mitochondrial genes found in other eukaryotes. They consist of coding and divergent/variable regions, complicating their assembly due to repetitive elements. However, next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods have resolved these issues, enabling the complete sequencing of maxicircles from different strains. Furthermore, several insertions and deletions in the maxicircle sequences have been identified among strains, affecting specific genes. Unique to kinetoplastids, minicircles play a crucial role in a particular U-insertion/deletion RNA editing system by encoding guide RNAs (gRNAs). These gRNAs are essential for editing and maturing maxicircle mRNAs. In