| | Degenerate mitochondria (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07) |
 | | The importance of mitochondria in cellular metabolism has been emphasized by the discovery of an increasing number of human diseases that are caused either by defects in mitochondrial proteins encoded in the nucleus or by point mutations or large deletions in mitochondrial DNA (Scheffler, 2000). |
 | | The discovery of highly degenerate mitochondrion-related organelles such as hydrogenosomes (Cerkasovová et al, 1973; Lindmark and Müller, 1973) and mitosomes (Mai et al, 1999; Tovar et al, 1999) in eukaryotes that lack typical mitochondria has revived interest in the origins and evolutionary aspects of the endosymbiosis-derived organelles of eukaryotes. |
 | | For example, the microsporidian genome only encodes one translocator for the outer membrane (tom70) and one for the inner membrane (tim22), in contrast with the multiplicity of proteins that is required for protein import in yeast (Katinka et al, 2001; Truscott et al, 2003). |
| www.nature.com /cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/embor/journal/v6/n6/full/7400440.html (3753 words) |