Cell Biology: Functional Conservation, Structural Divergence, and Surprising Convergence in the MICOS Complex of Trypanosomes

The MICOS complex is conserved across eukaryotes, but little is known about it outside the group that comprises animals and fungi. A new study finds that mitochondria of trypanosomatid parasites bear a divergent MICOS with both ancestral and derived subunits, but with conserved functions in crista development and membrane contact-site formation.