Discovery of new mitochondrial DNA segregation machinery components in Trypanosoma brucei: a comparison of three approaches

Trypanosoma brucei is a single celled eukaryotic parasite and the causative agent of human African sleeping sickness and Nagana in cattle. Aside from its medical relevance T. brucei has also been key to the discovery of several general biological principles including GPI-anchoring, RNA-editing and trans-splicing. The parasite contains a single mitochondrial organelle with a singular genome. Recent studies have identified several molecular components of the mitochondrial genome segregation machinery (tripartite attachment complex, TAC), which connects the basal body of the flagellum to the mitochondrial DNA of T. brucei. The TAC component in closest proximity to the mitochondrial DNA is TAC102. Here we apply and compare three different approaches (proximity labeling, Immunoprecipitation and yeast two-hybrid) to identify novel interactors of TAC102 and subsequently verify their localisation. Furthermore, we establish the direct interaction of TAC102 and p166 in the unilateral filaments of the TAC. Subject areabiochemistry, molecular biology, cellular biology