Liu Beiyu, Liu Yanan, Motyka Shawn A, Agbo Eddy E C, Englund Paul T
Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Trends Parasitol. 2005 Aug;21(8):363-9. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2005.06.008.
Kinetoplastid protozoa such as trypanosomes and Leishmania are important because they cause human disease. These parasites are named after one of their most unusual features, a mitochondrial DNA known as kinetoplast DNA (kDNA). Unlike all other DNA in nature, kDNA comprises a giant network of interlocked DNA rings with a topology resembling that of medieval chain mail. The replication of the kDNA network is more complex than previously thought, and the discovery of new proteins involved in this process is currently the best approach for illuminating the replication mechanism.
动质体原生动物，如锥虫和利什曼原虫，因其会引发人类疾病而备受关注。这些寄生虫因其最独特的特征之一——一种名为动质体DNA（kDNA）的线粒体DNA而得名。与自然界中的所有其他DNA不同，kDNA由一个巨大的相互连接的DNA环网络组成，其拓扑结构类似于中世纪的锁子甲。kDNA网络的复制比之前认为的更为复杂，目前发现参与这一过程的新蛋白质是阐明复制机制的最佳方法。
