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Scientific Correspondence

Nature 396, 527-528 (10 December 1998) | doi:10.1038/25023

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A hydrogenosome with a genome

Anna Akhmanova1,2, Frank Voncken1, Theo van Alen1, Angela van Hoek1, Brigitte Boxma1, Godfried Vogels1, Marten Veenhuis3 & Johannes H.P. Hackstein1

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Some anaerobic protozoa and chytridiomycete fungi possess membrane-bound organelles known as hydrogenosomes. Hydrogenosomes are about 1 micrometre in diameter and are so called because they produce molecular hydrogen1. It has been postulated that hydrogenosomes evolved from mitochondria by the concomitant loss of their respiration and organellar genomes1,4, and so far no hydrogenosome has been found that has a genome1,2. Here we provide evidence for the existence of a hydrogenosomal genome of mitochondrial descent, and show that the anaerobic heterotrichous ciliate Nyctotherus ovalis possesses a new type of nuclear-encoded 'iron-only' hydrogenase enzyme.

  1. Department of Microbiology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Nijmegen, NL-6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands
    e-mail: Email: hack@sci.kun.nl
  2. Department of Microbiology, University of Groningen, NL-9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands.
  3. Present address: Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Erasmus University, NL-3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands