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."

Single-celled #protists in the #guts of #animals thrive without #mitochondria, study finds.

#oxymonads #evolution #phylogenomics

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-single-celled-protists-guts-animals-mitochondria.html

Single-celled protists in the guts of animals thrive without mitochondria, study finds

Almost all eukaryotic organisms, from plants and animals to fungi, can't survive without mitochondria, which generate chemical energy using oxygen.

^{Science X (Phys.org)}

Highlight: Unlocking the Ancient Origins of Cell Death

https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evad172

"They propose that early protoeukaryotes were predators, relying on bacterial prey. These bacteria, in response to predation, produced toxins as a defense mechanism. Over time, these bacteria were domesticated to serve as mitochondria within eukaryotic cells, and their toxins evolved into apoptotic factors. "

#evolution #eukaryotes #apoptosis #mitochondria