All living organisms breakdown food molecules to generate energy for processes, such as growing, reproducing and movement. The series of chemical reactions that breakdown sugars into smaller molecules – known as glycolysis – is so important that it occurs in all life forms, from bacteria to humans. In higher organisms, such as fungi and animals, these reactions take place in the cytosol, the space surrounding the cell’s various compartments. A transport protein then shuttles the end-product of glycolysis – pyruvate – into specialised compartments, known as the mitochondria, where most energy is produced. However, recently it was discovered that a group of living organisms, called the stramenopiles, have a branched glycolysis in which the enzymes involved in the second half of this process are located in both the cytosol and mitochondrial matrix. But it was not known how the intermediate molecules produced after the first half of glycolysis enter the mitochondria. To answer this question, Pyrihová et al. searched for transport protein(s) that could link the two halves of the glycolysis pathway. Computational analyses, comparing the genetic sequences of many transport proteins from several different species, revealed a new group found only in stramenopiles. Pyrihová et al. then used microscopy to visualise these new transport proteins – called GIC-1 and GIC-2 – in the parasite Blastocystis, which infects the human gut, and observed that they localise to mitochondria. Further biochemical experiments showed that GIC-1 and GIC-2 can physically bind these intermediate molecules, but only GIC-2 can transport them across membranes. Taken together, these observations suggest that GIC-2 links the two halves of glycolysis in Blastocystis. Further analyses could reveal corresponding transport proteins in other stramenopiles, many of which have devastating effects on agriculture, such as Phytophthora, which causes potato blight, or Saprolegnia, which causes skin infections in farmed salmon. Since human cells do not have equivalent transporters, they could be new drug targets not only for Blastocystis, but for these harmful pathogens as well.
所有生物体都会分解食物分子以产生能量,比如成长,复制和运动。将糖分解为较小分子的一系列化学反应-称为糖酵解-非常重要,以至于它发生在所有生命形式中,从细菌到人类在高等生物中,比如真菌和动物,这些反应发生在细胞质中,牢房各个隔间周围的空间。然后,运输蛋白将糖酵解的最终产物-丙酮酸盐-运送到专门的隔室中,称为线粒体,大部分能源都在那里生产。然而,最近发现一群生物,叫做stramenopiles,具有分支糖酵解,其中参与该过程后半段的酶位于细胞质和线粒体基质中。但是不知道糖酵解的前半部分后产生的中间分子如何进入线粒体。为了回答这个问题,Pyrihováetal.寻找可以连接糖酵解途径的两半的转运蛋白。计算分析,比较来自几个不同物种的许多运输蛋白的遗传序列,揭示了一个仅在stramenopiles发现的新群体。Pyrihováetal.然后用显微镜观察这些新的转运蛋白-称为GIC-1和GIC-2-在寄生虫胚泡中,感染人类肠道,并观察到它们定位于线粒体。进一步的生化实验表明,GIC-1和GIC-2可以物理结合这些中间分子,但只有GIC-2能将它们跨膜运输.一起来看,这些观察结果提示GIC-2将胚泡糖酵解的两半联系起来.进一步的分析可以揭示其他Stramenopiles中相应的转运蛋白,其中许多对农业产生破坏性影响,比如疫霉,导致马铃薯疫病,或者是断断续续,导致养殖鲑鱼皮肤感染。由于人类细胞没有等效的转运蛋白,它们不仅可以成为囊胚病的新药靶点,但对于这些有害的病原体也是如此。