Energy generation in insect stages of Trypanosoma brucei: metabolism in flux

The generation of energy in African trypanosomes is a subject of undoubted importance. In bloodstream-form organisms, substrate-level phosphorylation of glucose is sufficient to provide the energy needs of the parasite. The situation in procyclic-form trypanosomes is more complex. For many years, it...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in parasitology 2005-04, Vol.21 (4), p.185-191
Main Authors: Besteiro, Sébastien, Barrett, Michael P., Rivière, Loïc, Bringaud, Frédéric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biochemistry. Physiology. Immunology. Molecular biology
Biological and medical sciences
Citric Acid Cycle - physiology
Electron Transport - physiology
Energy Metabolism - physiology
Experimental protozoal diseases and models
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Glycolysis - physiology
Infectious diseases
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Medical sciences
Oxidation-Reduction
Parasitic diseases
Phosphorylation
Protozoa
Protozoal diseases
Trypanosoma brucei
Trypanosoma brucei brucei - metabolism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The generation of energy in African trypanosomes is a subject of undoubted importance. In bloodstream-form organisms, substrate-level phosphorylation of glucose is sufficient to provide the energy needs of the parasite. The situation in procyclic-form trypanosomes is more complex. For many years, it was accepted that glucose metabolism followed a conventional scheme involving glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and ATP-producing oxidative phosphorylation linked to the electron-transport chain. However, progress in sequencing the Trypanosoma brucei genome and the development of gene-knockout and RNA interference technology has provided novel insight. Coupling these new technologies with classical approaches, including NMR and mass spectrometry to analyse glycolytic intermediates and end products, has yielded several surprises. In this article, we summarize how these recent data have helped to change the view of metabolism in procyclic-form T. brucei.
ISSN:1471-4922
1471-5007
DOI:10.1016/j.pt.2005.02.008