Cnidarians
ATP
PNAS
DOI
the Ars Orbital Transmission
CNMN Collection
WIRED Media Group
Condé Nast
John Timmer
Ars
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Henneguya
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While many of the genes needed for mitochondrial function are found in the regular cellular genome located in the nucleus, the mitochondria retain their own genome, which still encodes a variety of proteins that are essential for its role in metabolism. It's difficult to see how the organism's mitochondria could function without a genome.To make sure there wasn't something strange about all myxozoans or their own lab procedures, the researchers sequenced the DNA from a related organism. This is not completely unexpected; as mentioned above, some single-celled parasites that no longer have mitochondria that perform oxidative metabolism still build similar-looking structures that handle other metabolic functions.To get a sense of what may be possible in Henneguya salminicola, the researchers looked for genes that encode components of the electron transport chain that helps make ATP. So, it's entirely possible that this organism was spending most of its existence without any oxygen to use for metabolism in the first place.Parasitic species like Henneguya salminicola often lose features because the species they attack provides so much for them. It's also possible that having a smaller genome and less complicated internal structure would be evolutionarily favorable for these organisms.Does this discovery mean that we should rethink the need for oxygen-based metabolisms as a prerequisite for animal life?
As said here by John Timmer