The first suicides: a legacy inherited by parasitic protozoans from prokaryote ancestors

Parasites & Vectors

Table 1 Eukaryote apoptosis-associated proteins and domain families that have been identified in prokaryotes and parasitic protozoa

Protein/domain family	Archaea	Bacteria	Parasitic Protozoa	Reference
Caspases/Paracaspases	Haloarchaea Euryarchaeota	Rhizobium	_	[40, 41]
Caspases/Paracaspases	Haloarchaea Euryarchaeota	Mesorizobium loti	_	[40, 41]
Metacaspases	Euryarchaeota	α-proteobacteria	Leishmania spp.	[10, 26, 42–44]
		Cyanobacteria	Trypanosome spp.
		Deltaproteobacteria	Plasmodium spp.
AP-ATPases	Pyrococcus horikoshii	α-proteobacteria	_	[17, 45]
		Cyanobacteria		[46]
		Actinomycetes		[46]
HtrA-like proteases	_	Many including Mesorizobium loti	_	[17]
Endonuclease G	_	_	Leishmania spp. Trypanosoma spp.	[29, 47, 48]
Endonuclease G	_	_	Toxoplasma gondii	[29, 47, 48]
Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)	Many including Pyrococcus horikoshii	Many including	_	[17, 38]
Apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)	Many including Pyrococcus horikoshii	Streptomyces coelicolor	_	[17, 38]
TIR domain	_	Streptomyces coelicolor	_	[17]
Cytochrome c	Many including Aeropyrum pernix	α-proteobacteria Cyanobacteria Actinomycetes	Plasmodium spp.	[49]

ISSN: 1756-3305