A Trypanosoma cruzi phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (TcVps34) is involved in osmoregulation and receptor-mediated endocytosis.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, has the ability to respond to a variety of environmental changes during its life cycle both in the insect vector and in the vertebrate host. Because regulation of transcription initiation seems to be nonfunctional in this parasite, it is important to investigate other regulatory mechanisms of adaptation. Regulatory mechanisms at the level of signal transduction pathways involving phosphoinositides are good candidates for this purpose. Here we report the identification of the first phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) in T. cruzi, with similarity with its yeast counterpart, Vps34p. TcVps34 specifically phosphorylates phosphatidylinositol to produce phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate, thus confirming that it belongs to class III PI3K

SUBMITTER: Schoijet AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2581564 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature