Threonine uptake in Trypanosoma brucei

Threonine uptake by the parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma brucei has been assessed using an oil-phase separation technique for measuring rapid amino acid fluxes. It was shown that the storage conditions for the organism were critical for the production of reproducible data. Using this method it has been shown that threonine uptake occurs rapidly, being linear for less than 30 s at 37 degrees C in contrast with previous reported results. Kinetic analysis of threonine uptake at 25 degrees C and at physiological plasma threonine levels (20-700 microM) gave a Km of 250 microM and a Vmax of 8 nmol mg-1 cell protein min-1. At these concentrations threonine uptake takes place against a concentration gradient.