April 2016 archive

The evolution of MICOS: Ancestral and derived functions and interactions

The MItochondrial Contact Site and Cristae Organizing System (MICOS) is required for the biogenesis and maintenance of mitochondrial cristae as well as the proper tethering of the mitochondrial inner and outer membranes. We recently demonstrated that the core components of MICOS, Mic10 and Mic60, are near-ubiquitous eukaryotic features inferred to have been present in the last eukaryote common ancestor. We also showed that Mic60 could be traced to α-proteobacteria, which suggests that…