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First published online December 20, 2007

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Suicidal parasites nick DNA

Apoptosis is crucial for normal development and the clearance of damaged cells in multicellular organisms. Interestingly, several unicellular organisms – including trypanosomes – also undergo a programmed death process bearing some hallmarks of apoptosis. However, the evolutionary reasons for having a death program, and its relationship to apoptosis, remain controversial. Now Alain Debrabant and colleagues (p. 99) identify a pro-apoptotic nuclease in the trypanosomatid parasites Leishmania and Trypanosoma. The nuclease is orthologous to endoG, a key effector in apoptosis. Like endoG, the nuclease localises to mitochondria and redistributes to the cytoplasm during cell death. Furthermore, overexpression of the nuclease in Leishmania promotes cell death and causes nicking of nuclear DNA, a feature of apoptosis. Conversely, knocking down the nuclease in Trypanosoma decreases cell death in response to peroxide. These data support a common evolutionary origin of programmed cell death in trypanosomes and complex organisms, which suggests that apoptosis is an evolutionarily ancient process.

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Related articles in JCS:

Conservation of the pro-apoptotic nuclease activity of endonuclease G in unicellular trypanosomatid parasites

Sreenivas Gannavaram, Chetan Vedvyas, and Alain Debrabant
JCS 2008 121: 99-109. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?