SUMMARY
The widespread occurrence of linear mitochondrial genomes evokes intriguing questions concerning
the evolutionary origin and mechanisms leading to the emergence and stabilization of linear DNA
genophores. The study of their replication strategies opens a unique possibility of discovering
alternative solutions to the end-replication problem and of elucidating how these mechanisms have
appeared in evolution. The analysis of linear mitochondrial genomes in organisms belonging to
different phylogenetic lines indicates that their evolutionary emergence was accompanied by the
generation of various types of terminal structures, the adaptation of existing replication machinery
and by the application of different strategies of the telomere replication. This scenario is illustrated
by the molecular anatomy and replication of the linear mitochondrial genome in the opportunist
yeast pathogen Candida parapsilosis. Recent studies have revealed the existence of extragenomic
minicircular molecules derived from the telomere repeats that seem to participate in the novel
pathway of telomere maintenance. Importantly, several lines of evidence indicate that a similar
mechanism may also be involved in the alternative, telomerase-independent, maintenance of nuclear
telomeres in higher eukaryotes, including human telomerase-negative tumor cells.
KEY WORDS
end-replication problem; linear mitochondrial DNA; telomere; replication; evolution
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