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The Mimivirus Genome Encodes a Mitochondrial Carrier That Transports dATP and dTTP

Magnus Monné ,^, Alan J. Robinson, Christoph Boes, Michael E. Harbour, Ian M. Fearnley, and Edmund R. S. Kunji^*

The Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Medical Research Council, Cambridge CB2 2XY, United Kingdom

Received 31 October 2006/ Accepted 8 January 2007

Members of the mitochondrial carrier family have been reported in eukaryotes only, where they transport metabolites and cofactors across the mitochondrial inner membrane to link the metabolic pathways of the cytosol and the matrix. The genome of the giant virus Mimiviridae mimivirus encodes a member of the mitochondrial carrier family of transport proteins. This viral protein has been expressed in Lactococcus lactis and is shown to transport dATP and dTTP. As the 1.2-Mb double-stranded DNA mimivirus genome is rich in A and T residues, we speculate that the virus is using this protein to target the host mitochondria as a source of deoxynucleotides for its replication.

Published ahead of print on 17 January 2007.

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Present address: Center for Structural Biochemistry, Department of Biosciences at NOVUM, Karolinska Institutet, 141 57 Huddinge, Sweden.

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