Research

Mitochondria are energy-generating organelles found in all organisms and chloroplasts are the site of photosynthesis in plants. Both are thought to have originated long ago when bacterial cells were engulfed by primitive eukaryotic cells. During cell proliferation, these organelles must be replicated and separated. We have shown that these organelles use similar division systems, both of which are derived from the ancestral bacterial endosymbionts and the eukaryotic host. The major goal of our research is to identify and characterize novel organelle division proteins that were contributed by the eukaryotic host. Secondly, we aim to discover key regulators of the division apparatus, such as transcription factors and cytosolic signaling molecules and reveal how theses control mechanisms contribute to organelle division. Overall, our results should provide insights into how the primitive eukaryotic host may have regulated the division of bacterial endosymbionts and later enslaved and turned them as organelles