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Mitosome
 
 
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A mitosome is an organelle
Organelle

In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function, and is usually separately enclosed within its own lipid membrane....
 found in some unicellular eukaryotic
Eukaryote

Animals, plants, fungus, and protists are eukaryotes , organisms whose Cell are organized into complex structures enclosed within Cell membrane....
 organisms. The mitosome has only recently been found and named, and its function has not yet been well characterized. It was termed a crypton by another group but that name is not being used any more.

The mitosome has been detected only in anaerobic
Anaerobic organism

An anaerobic organism is any organism that does not require oxygen for growth and may even die in its presence....
 or microaerophilic organisms that do not have mitochondria
Mitochondrion

In cell biology, a mitochondrion is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in most eukaryote cell . These organelles range from 0.5–10 micrometers in diameter....
. These organisms do not have the capability of gaining energy from oxidative phosphorylation, which is normally performed by mitochondria.






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A mitosome is an organelle
Organelle

In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function, and is usually separately enclosed within its own lipid membrane....
 found in some unicellular eukaryotic
Eukaryote

Animals, plants, fungus, and protists are eukaryotes , organisms whose Cell are organized into complex structures enclosed within Cell membrane....
 organisms. The mitosome has only recently been found and named, and its function has not yet been well characterized. It was termed a crypton by another group but that name is not being used any more.

The mitosome has been detected only in anaerobic
Anaerobic organism

An anaerobic organism is any organism that does not require oxygen for growth and may even die in its presence....
 or microaerophilic organisms that do not have mitochondria
Mitochondrion

In cell biology, a mitochondrion is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in most eukaryote cell . These organelles range from 0.5–10 micrometers in diameter....
. These organisms do not have the capability of gaining energy from oxidative phosphorylation, which is normally performed by mitochondria. The mitosome was first described in Entamoeba histolytica
Entamoeba histolytica

For the infection and disease caused by this parasite, refer to Amoebiasis.Entamoeba histolytica is an anaerobic organism parasitic protozoan, part of the genus Entamoeba....
, an intestinal parasite of humans. Mitosomes have also been identified in several species of Microsporidia
Microsporidia

The microsporidia constitute a phylum of spore-forming unicellular parasites. Loosely 1500 of the probably more than one million species are named now....
 and in Giardia intestinalis
Giardia lamblia

File:Giardia life cycle en.svgGiardia lamblia is a flagellated protozoan parasite that colonises and reproduces in the small intestine, causing giardiasis....
.

Mitosomes are almost certainly derived from mitochondria. Like mitochondria, they have a double membrane and most proteins are delivered to them by a targeting sequence
Signal peptide

A signal peptide is a short peptide chain that directs the post-translation transport of a protein.Signal peptides may also be called targeting signals, signal sequences, transit peptides, or localization signals....
 of amino acids. The targeting sequence is similar to that used for mitochondria and true mitochondrial presequences will deliver proteins to mitosomes. A number of proteins associated with mitosomes have been shown to be closely related to those of mitochondria or hydrogenosome
Hydrogenosome

A hydrogenosome is a membrane-enclosed organelle of some Anaerobic organism ciliates, trichomonas and fungi. The hydrogenosomes of trichomonads produce molecular hydrogen, acetate, carbon dioxide and Adenosine triphosphate by the combined actions of Pyruvate synthase, hydrogenase, Acetate CoA-transferase and Succinyl coenzyme A synthetase....
s (which are also degenerate mitochondria).

Unlike mitochondria, mitosomes do not have gene
Gene

A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cell and pass genetic trait to offspring....
s within them. The genes for mitosomal components are contained in the nuclear genome. An early report suggested the presence of DNA in this organelle, but more recent research has shown this not to be the case.