Mapping parasite mitochondria reveals ancient pathways and dozens of potential new drug targets
Cut the power, and the machine stops. That was part of the motivation behind a four-year effort to map all the proteins in the mitochondria—often called the powerhouse of the cell—of the parasites that cause sleeping sickness, giardiasis, leishmaniasis and babesiosis, diseases that together affect nearly a billion people every year.
A four-year effort to map the mitochondrial proteomes of five deadly parasites and one plant revealed ancient pathways and potential new drug targets. Led by HHMI investigator Vamsi Mootha, a consortium of 25 scientists from various institutions mapped the mitochondrial proteomes across Giardia, Acanthamoeba, trypanosomes, Leishmania, and Babesia.
The results, published in nine papers, could lead to drugs that target multiple pathogens simultaneously. The team discovered that some parasites share ancient mitochondrial machinery with human mitochondria, while others have unique properties, such as running without oxygen or losing their mitochondrial DNA entirely. This challenges the conventional understanding of mitochondria and could open up new avenues for drug development.
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