Leishmania's good side

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology have reported in Sciencethat they were able to correct the mitochondrial dysfunctions that cause a form of epilepsy that is induced by transfer RNA gene deletions. They did so by exploiting a protein apparatus from the protozoan Leishmania to deliver cytoplasmic tRNA into mutant mitochondria in whole human cells, thereby replacing the missing or modified tRNA and effectively rescuing the function of the organelles.

Many genetically distinct organisms, including the Leishmania parasite, import nucleus-encoded tRNA into their mitochondria for translation. Human mitochondria have a full set of tRNA genes and therefore don't need to import tRNA. However, a number of human neuromuscular degenerative and metabolic diseases are caused by mutations in mitochondrial tRNA genes. ...