A Hydrogen-Producing Mitochondrion

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A Hydrogen-Producing Mitochondrion news and views the SO2 flux measurements by COSPEC, ‘order of release’ of volcanic gases from mag- allow for remote determination of HCl, HF mas as related to their relative solubility has and SiF4, and of changes in the flux of several been a long-term guiding idea of work in this gas species with excellent time resolution. area14,15 — there is now hope that intrusion of (Incidentally, the authors1,2 use different fresh, gas-rich magma into magma bodies, reporting units, which can be related by tons suggested by some interpretations of volcanic 100 YEARS AGO d11 2 0.012 4 kg s11). gas data16, might be unambiguously detected While we were taking sympathetic Application of these new methods will by remote sensing and used to increase the breaths with the insatiable shag, the add much to our knowledge of accuracy of forecasts. 8 latter reappeared — yet again with a 15- volcano–atmosphere interactions by giving William I. Rose and Gregg J. S. Bluth are in the inch eel. Four 15-inch eels — all us improved data on many species, particu- Department of Geological Engineering and Sciences, swallowed alive — within the space of larly the halogen compounds. For example, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, about four minutes! … Would he bring up the study of the ratios HCl:SO2 and HCl:HF Michigan 49931, USA. another? Yes, there he was again with can provide information about the rise and e-mails: [email protected] another 15-inch eel! A very vigorous eel degassing of magma, and is thus a means of [email protected] 2 — just like the others in size and eruption monitoring and prediction . Like- 1. Love, S. P., Goff, F., Counce, D., Siebe, C. & Delgado, H. Nature appearance, and swallowed in the same wise, quantitative measurements of these 396, 563–567 (1998). 2. Francis, P., Burton, M. R. & Oppenheimer, C. Nature 396, manner, after about 30 seconds’ species can be used to constrain geochemical 567–570 (1998). resistance. This made five eels. The models of magma equilibrium and oxida- 3. Symonds, R. B., Rose, W. I., Bluth, G. J. S. & Gerlach, T. Rev. question now arose as to what would be tion state, and of the interactions among the Mineral. 30, 1–66 (1994). the end of this bird. Was he going to die solid, liquid and gas phases3. 4. Baxter, P. J. & Gresham, A. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 77, 1,2 325–338 (1997). the death of King Henry I before our These advances will also challenge our 5. Stoiber, R. E. & Jepson, A. Science 182, 577–578 (1973). eyes? ... To make a long story short, we understanding of volcanic gas measure- 6. Krueger, A. J. Science 220, 1377–1379 (1983). 7. Bluth, G. J. S. et al. Nature 366, 327–329 (1993). counted twelve eels! — all stout 15- ments. In the case of SO2, geochemists have 8. Rose, W. I. et al. Bull. Volcanol. 48, 181–188 (1986). inchers. The twelfth seemed, perhaps, had great difficulty in interpreting gas flux 9. Goff, F. et al. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 110, 695–710 (1998). rather feebler than the others, but it data in a consistent way, and many volcanoes 10.Gerlach, T. M. et al. J. Geophys. Res. 102, 8005–8019 (1997). nearly got away. H.R.H. now seemed to have been reported to release ‘excess’ sul- 11.Andres, R. J. et al. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 46, 323–329 reflect that this last misadventure was a phur11,12; that is, they release more sulphur (1991). 12.Gerlach, T. M. et al. in Fire and Mud (eds Newhall, C. G. & warning, swallowed his twelfth, and took than expected from study of the mother rock. Punongbayan, R. S.) 415–434 (Univ. Washington Press, Seattle, flight... There is, of course, only one This uncertainty can apparently now be clari- 1995). explanation of all this; the twelve eels fied by a better appreciation of how the oxy- 13.Scaillet, B. et al. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 23937–23949 (1998). were one and the same eel … . The gen fugacity (effective molecular pressure) in 14.Greenland, L. P. et al. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 49, 125–129 (1985). peculiar procedure of ejecting the prey melts influences the separation of SO2 (ref. 15.Gerlach, T. M. & Graeber, E. J. Nature 313, 273–277 (1986). under water appears very remarkable. 13). An understanding of the pattern or 16.Harris, D. M. & Rose, W. I. Bull. Volcanol. 58, 163–174 (1996). From Nature 8 December 1898. Molecular evolution 50 YEARS AGO Since last August there have been reports A hydrogen-producing in the Press of a crisis among biologists in the U.S.S.R. The crisis culminated in a mitochondrion decree from the Præsidium of the T. Martin Embley and William Martin Academy of Sciences ... This decree dismisses a number of prominent biologists from their posts, closes two ark, damp (and sometimes smelly) studied in anaerobic eukaryotes for 25 years2. famous laboratories, and removes places harbour some of nature’s most Hydrogenosomes have often been suspected orthodox geneticists from committees… . Dcurious eukaryotes. The likes of of stemming from the same endosymbiotic The Lenin Academy of Agriculture swamps and intestines are swarming with bacterium that gave rise to mitochondria. Sciences, of which body Lysenko has mostly single-celled eukaryotes (protists) But now, Akhmanova et al. report a been president for ten years, held a that, like all cells, must produce ATP to sur- hydrogenosome that has its own genome, Conference during July 31–August 7 of vive. Yet these places lack enough oxygen to directly betraying its endosymbiotic past. this year… Lysenko’s address followed sustain ATP synthesis as it occurs in textbook Cells of Nyctotherus (which do not grow familiar lines ... It denies the mitochondria like our own. Some protists in culture and have to be carefully microma- chromosome theory of heredity. It possess no mitochondria, surviving from nipulated from cockroach hindguts) contain arraigns several Soviet biologists because anaerobic fermentation in the cytosol. hydrogenosomes that can be labelled by anti- their work is inconsistent with Marxist Others have quite odd mitochondria that bodies against DNA. The authors found that ideology and is sterile of practical results harbour anaerobic ATP-producing path- the cell produces a ribosomal RNA which, … . The objective of Lysenko’s attack on ways. On page 527 of this issue, Akhmanova although not proven by in situ hybridization Mendelism is not so much its false et al.1 report a gem of such an odd mitochon- to localize to the organelle, bears all the ideology, but rather its impotence. By drion in the ciliate protist Nyctotherus ovalis. sequence characteristics expected of ciliate insisting on the stability of the germ The ciliate lives in the suffocatingly oxy- mitochondria. Plus, it may look like a mito- plasm Mendelism “condemns practical gen-poor confines of cockroach intestines, chondrion, but this DNA-bearing organelle workers to fruitless waiting”. The where it helps the insect to digest cellulose. is unquestionably a hydrogenosome because inheritance of acquired characters is a Instead of consuming oxygen, Nyctotherus’s it produces hydrogen — Akhmanova and doctrine necessary for the progress of mitochondrion has the bizarre property of colleagues found hydrogen-consuming3 Soviet agriculture. excreting hydrogen as a by-product of ATP methanogenic endosymbionts inside the From Nature 11 December 1948. synthesis. Similar hydrogen-generating cells of Nyctotherus. Finally, Nyctotherus organelles — hydrogenosomes — have been expresses a nuclear-encoded gene for a NATURE | VOL 396 | 10 DECEMBER 1998 | www.nature.com Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1998 517 news and views Electron Excreted Example Which ATP-producing acceptor end product organelles occur.....in which eukaryotes? Today - H - - Trichomonads O2 H2O Many 7 N - - - Diplomonads Fumarate Succinate Flatworm - 8 NO3 N2O Fungus e - H - M Percolozoa NO - NO - Ciliate9 8 m 3 i 2 t l a + 1 c H H Ciliate i 2 g - ? M M Euglenozoa o l Figure 2 Some electron acceptors, and the o e corresponding reduced end-products associated G with energy metabolism in mitochondria. N - - - Entamoeba the oxidative breakdown of reduced carbon compounds. Electrons removed during the - H M M Ciliates oxidation process must be dumped onto an electron-accepting compound (an accep- Nyctotherus tor) that can be excreted from the cell. Oth- Origin of eukaryotes erwise, ATP production — and life — comes to a halt. Our mitochondria use oxygen as the acceptor and excrete water. But the mito- - - ? M Stramenopiles chondria of anaerobic eukaryotes must resort to compounds other than oxygen (Fig. 2). Some use organic acceptors such 7 8,9 - - M M Metazoa as fumarate , some use nitrate . The mito- chondria of Nyctotherus1, like other hydro- genosomes2,4, simply transfer the electrons onto protons, producing hydrogen. N H M M Fungi Why are anaerobic ATP-producing path- ways so widespread in eukaryotes2–4,7–10? There are two popular hypotheses for their - - - M Plants origin which, in principle, can be tested through gene-by-gene phylogenetic analy- N H M M sis. One view is that the genes were acquired Spectrum of Typical mitochondria by eukaryotes through horizontal gene ecology and types of Anaerobic mitochondria transfer from one or more prokaryotic energy metabolism donors, other than the antecedent of mito- found in each group Hydrogenosomes chondria. If this were the case, the genes No ATP-producing organelles for these pathways in anaerobic eukaryotes should trace to different prokaryotic (eubac- Anaerobic Aerobic terial or archaebacterial) sources. An alter- native view is that the eukaryotic genes Figure 1 Summary of ATP-producing organelles across a very limited, and arbitrarily chosen, involved in anaerobic ATP synthesis were spectrum of eukaryotic taxa. The ciliate Nyctotherus ovalis (red star) contains hydrogenosomes, inherited from a single common ancestor of which Akhmanova et al.1 now show contain their own genome.
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