Summary: Mitochondrial origin-binding protein UMSBP mediates
DNA replication and segregation in trypanosomes
Neta Milman*, Shawn A. Motyka
, Paul T. Englund
, Derrick Robinson
, and Joseph Shlomai*§
*Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Hebrew University­Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem
91120, Israel; Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205; and Microbiologie Cellulaire
et Mole´culaire et Pathoge´nicite´ (MCMP) Unite´ Mixte de Recherche­Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 5234, Universite´ Bordeaux 2,
146 Rue Le´o Saignat, Ba^t. 3A, 33076 Bordeaux CEDEX, France
Edited by I. Robert Lehman, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, and approved October 19, 2007 (received for review July 22, 2007)
Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) is the remarkable mitochondrial genome
of trypanosomatids. Its major components are several thousands
of topologically linked DNA minicircles, whose replication origins
are bound by the universal minicircle sequence-binding protein
(UMSBP). The cellular function of UMSBP has been studied in
Trypanosoma brucei by using RNAi analysis. Silencing of the
trypanosomal UMSBP genes resulted in remarkable effects on the
trypanosome cell cycle. It significantly inhibited the initiation of
minicircle replication, blocked nuclear DNA division, and impaired

Source: Arnold, Jonathan - Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center & Department of Genetics, University of Georgia

Collections: Biotechnology