Live Imaging of Mitosomes and Hydrogenosomes by HaloTag Technology

Hydrogenosomes and mitosomes represent remarkable mitochondrial adaptations in the anaerobic parasitic protists such as Trichomonas vaginalis and Giardia intestinalis, respectively. In order to provide a tool to study these organelles in the live cells, the HaloTag was fused to G. intestinalis IscU and T. vaginalis frataxin and expressed in the mitosomes and hydrogenosomes, respectively. The incubation of the parasites with the fluorescent Halo-ligand resulted in highly specific organellar labeling, allowing live imaging of the organelles. With the array of available ligands the HaloTag technology offers a new tool to study the dynamics of mitochondria-related compartments as well as other cellular components in these intriguing unicellular eukaryotes

Mitochondrion-Related Organelles in Free-Living Protists

Editor: Jan Tachezy: Series Editor: Alexander Steinbüchel.-- First Online: 10 August 2019.Mitochondrion-related organelles (MROs) are organelles that have independently evolved from mitochondria in eukaryotes that live in low-oxygen conditions. These organelles are functionally diverse, possessing a range of ancestrally mitochondrial or horizontally acquired biochemical pathways. Early studies of MROs focused mainly on parasitic organisms; however, the past decade has seen a growing body of work on the MROs of free-living eukaryotes based on comparative genomics, making it possible to tease apart adaptations to low-oxygen conditions from adaptations to parasitism. Here, we review current knowledge of MROs in free-living eukaryotes.Peer reviewe