A Genetic System Controlling Mitochondrial Fusion in the Slime Mould, Physarum Polycephalum

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We have identified two distinct mitochondrial phenotypes, namely, Mif(+) (mitochondrial fusion) and Mif(-) (mitochondrial fusion-deficient), and have studied the genetic system that controls mitochondrial fusion in the slime mould, Physarum polycephalum. A mitochondrial plasmid of approximately 16 kbp was identified in all Mif(+) plasmodial strains. This plasmid is apparently responsible for promoting mitochondrial fusion, and it is inserted into the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in successive sexual crossing with Mif(-) strains. This recombinant mtDNA and the unchanged free plasmid spread through the mitochondrial population via the promotion of mitochondrial fusion. The Mif(+) strains with the plasmid were further classified as being two types: high frequency and low frequency mitochondrial fusion. Restriction analysis of the mtDNA suggested that the high frequency mitochondrial fusion type was more often heteroplasmic; within each plasmodium, mtDNAs of both parental types were usually present, in addition to the presence of the plasmid. Genetic analysis with the progeny obtained from crossing myxamoebae derived from three different isolates suggested that these progeny carried different alleles at a nuclear locus that controlled the frequency of mitochondrial fusion. These alleles (mitochondrial mating-type alleles, mitA1, 2 and 3) appear to function like the mating type of the myxamoebae; mitochondrial fusion occurs at high frequency with the combination of unlike alleles, but at low frequency with the combination of like alleles.

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