Cellular landmarks of Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania mexicana

• Published in: Molecular and biochemical parasitology 2019-06, Vol.230, p.24-36
• Main Authors: Halliday, Clare, Billington, Karen, Wang, Ziyin, Madden, Ross, Dean, Samuel, Sunter, Jack Daniel, Wheeler, Richard John
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Leishmania; Leishmania mexicana - chemistry; Leishmania mexicana - cytology; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Organelles; Organelles - chemistry; Organelles - ultrastructure; Protein Transport; Protozoan Proteins - analysis; Protozoan Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - analysis; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics; Reference localisations; Staining and Labeling - methods; Trypanosoma brucei brucei - chemistry; Trypanosoma brucei brucei - cytology; Trypanosomes
• ISSN: 0166-6851; 1872-9428
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2018.12.003

[Display omitted] •Trypanosoma and Leishmania are single cell eukaryotic parasites.•The cell organisation of these human pathogens is complex and highly structured.•This describes an inventory of reliable reference markers for 32 cell structures.•These light microscopy landmarks are a valuable resource for researchers. The kinetoplastids Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania mexicana are eukaryotes with a highly structured cellular organisation that is reproduced with great fidelity in each generation. The pattern of signal from a fluorescently tagged protein can define the specific structure/organelle that this protein localises to, and can be extremely informative in phenotype analysis in experimental perturbations, life cycle tracking, post-genomic assays and functional analysis of organelles. Using the vast coverage of protein subcellular localisations provided by the TrypTag project, an ongoing project to determine the localisation of every protein encoded in the T. brucei genome, we have generated an inventory of reliable reference organelle markers for both parasites that combines epifluorescence images with a detailed description of the key features of each localisation. We believe this will be a useful comparative resource that will enable researchers to quickly and accurately pinpoint the localisation of their proteins of interest and will provide cellular markers for many types of cell biology studies. We see this as another important step in the post-genomic era analyses of these parasites, in which ever expanding datasets generate numerous candidates to analyse. Adoption of these reference proteins by the community is likely to enhance research studies and enable better comparison of data.