Trypanosoma cruzi coexpressing ornithine decarboxylase and green fluorescence proteins as a tool to study the role of polyamines in chagas disease pathology
Polyamines are essential for Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. As T. cruzi behaves as a natural auxotrophic organism, it relies on host polyamines biosynthesis. In this paper we obtained a double-transfected T. cruzi parasite that expresses the green fluorescent protein (GFP)...
Guardado en:
| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | JOUR |
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_20900406_v2011_n1_p_Barclay |
| Aporte de: |
| Sumario: | Polyamines are essential for Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. As T. cruzi behaves as a natural auxotrophic organism, it relies on host polyamines biosynthesis. In this paper we obtained a double-transfected T. cruzi parasite that expresses the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a heterologous ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), used itself as a novel selectable marker. These autotrophic and fluorescent parasites were characterized; the ODC presented an apparent Km for ornithine of 0.51 0.16 mM and an estimated Vvalue of 476.2 nmoles/h/mg of protein. These expressing ODC parasites showed higher metacyclogenesis capacity than the auxotrophic counterpart, supporting the idea that polyamines are engaged in this process. This double-transfected T. cruzi parasite results in a powerful tool - easy to follow by its fluorescence - to study the role of polyamines in Chagas disease pathology and in related processes such as parasite survival, invasion, proliferation, metacyclogenesis, and tissue spreading. © 2011 Jeremías José Barclay et al. |
|---|