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Chapter category: Parasitic Disease

Unique Characteristics of the Kinetoplast DNA Replication Machinery Provide Potential Drug Targets in Trypanosomatids

This chapter appears in the following book:

Drug Targets in Kinetoplastid Parasites

Edited by: Hemanta K. Majumder
ISBN: 978-0-387-77569-2
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Dotan Sela, Neta Milman, Irit Kapeller, Aviad Zick, Rachel Bezalel, Nurit Yaffe and Joseph Shlomai


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Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) is a remarkable DNA structure found in the single mitochondrion of flagellated protozoa of the order Kinetoplastida. In various parasitic species of the family Trypanosomatidae, it consists of 5,000-10,000 duplex DNA minicircles (0.5-10 kb) and 25-50 maxicircles (20-40 kb), which are linked topologically into a two dimensional DNA network. Maxicircles encode for typical mitochondrial proteins and ribosomal RNA, whereas minicircles encode for guide RNA (gRNA) molecules that function in the editing of maxicircles’ mRNA transcripts. The replication of kDNA includes the duplication of free detached minicircles and catenated maxicircles, and the generation of two progeny kDNA networks. It is catalyzed by an enzymatic machinery, consisting of kDNA replication proteins that are located at defined sites flanking the kDNA disk in the mitochondrial matrix (for recent reviews on kDNA see refs. 1-8).

Dotan Sela
Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School

Neta Milman
Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School

Irit Kapeller
Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School

Aviad Zick
Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School

Rachel Bezalel
Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School

Nurit Yaffe
Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School

Joseph Shlomai
Department of Parasitology, The Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, The Hebrew University- Hadassah Medical School

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