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Trypanosoma cruzi Polyamine Transporter: Its Role on Parasite Growth and Survival Under Stress Conditions.
- Source :
-
Journal of Membrane Biology . Aug2016, Vol. 249 Issue 4, p475-481. 7p. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas disease, a major health problem in Latin America. Polyamines are polycationic compounds that play a critical role as regulators of cell growth and differentiation. In contrast with other protozoa, T. cruzi is auxotrophic for polyamines because of its inability to synthesize putrescine due to the lack of both, arginine and ornithine decarboxylase; therefore, the intracellular availability of polyamines depends exclusively on transport processes. In this work, the polyamine transporter TcPAT12 was overexpressed in T. cruzi epimastigotes demonstrating that growth rates at different concentrations of polyamines strongly depend on the regulation of the polyamine transport. In addition, parasites overexpressing TcPAT12 showed a highly increased resistance to hydrogen peroxide and the trypanocidal drugs nifurtimox and benznidazole, which act by oxidative stress and interfering the synthesis of polyamine derivatives, respectively. Finally, the presence of putative polyamine transporters was analyzed in T. cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leishmania major genomes identifying 3-6 genes in these trypanosomatids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *POLYAMINES
*TRYPANOSOMA cruzi
*CHAGAS' disease
*CELL growth
*CELL differentiation
*ORNITHINE decarboxylase
*GENETIC overexpression
*THERAPEUTICS
*PROTOZOA physiology
*AMINES
*AMINO acids
*BIOLOGICAL transport
*BIOLOGICAL evolution
*GENE expression
*PROTOZOA
*PHYSIOLOGICAL stress
*TRYPANOSOMIASIS
*OXIDATIVE stress
*SEQUENCE analysis
*MEMBRANE transport proteins
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00222631
- Volume :
- 249
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Membrane Biology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 116775282
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00232-016-9888-z