New #ISEPpapers #preprint! Comprehensive analysis of the microbial consortium in the culture of flagellate #Monocercomonoides exilis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.02.578639v2 #protists #microbes #mitochondria #bacteria #biorxiv @biorxivpreprint

"Monocercomonoides exilis is the only known amitochondriate eukaryote, making it an excellent model for studying the implications of mitochondrial reduction from a cellular and evolutionary point of view."

New #ISEPpapers! Characterization of the SUF FeS cluster synthesis machinery in the amitochondriate eukaryote Monocercomonoides exilis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960982224009217 #protists #microbes #symbiosis #genomics by Priscila Peña-Diaz et al.

"#Monocercomonoides exilis is the first known amitochondriate eukaryote. Loss of #mitochondria in M. exilis ocurred after the replacement of the essential mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) assembly machinery by a unique, #bacteria-derived, cytosolic SUF system."

New #ISEPpapers! Comprehensive analysis of the microbial consortium in the culture of flagellate #Monocercomonoides exilis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.02.578639v1.abstract #protists #bacteria #symbiosis #microbes

These #microbes have been thriving without #mitochondria since the age of #dinosaurs!

7 years ago, we identified the first known #eukaryote that has completely lost its mitochondria in a humble inhabitant of #chinchilla's gut - #Monocercomonoides exilis.

Today, we can say with confidence, that this intriguing simplification of the cell is not unique to M. exilis, but shared with many of its relatives. This means that it happened at least 100 million years ago!

https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1011050