Galactose metabolism is essential for the African sleeping sickness parasite Trypanosoma brucei.

ABSTRACT: The tsetse fly-transmitted protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of human African sleeping sickness and the cattle disease Nagana. The bloodstream form of the parasite uses a dense cell-surface coat of variant surface glycoprotein to escape the innate and adaptive immune responses of the mammalian host and a highly glycosylated transferrin receptor to take up host transferrin, an essential growth factor. These glycoproteins, as well as other flagellar pocket, endosomal, and lysosomal glycoproteins, are known to contain galactose. The parasite is unable to take up galactose, suggesting that it may depend on the action of UDP-glucose 4'-epimerase for the conversion of UDP-Glc to UDP-Gal and subsequent incorporation of galactose into glycoconjugates via UDP-Gal-dependen

SUBMITTER: Roper JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC122871 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature