Phosphatidylethanolamine in Trypanosoma brucei is organized in two separate pools and is synthesized exclusively by the Kennedy pathway.

ABSTRACT: Phosphatidylethanolamine is a major phospholipid class of all eukaryotic cells. It can be synthesized via the CDP-ethanolamine branch of the Kennedy pathway, by decarboxylation of phosphatidylserine, or by base exchange with phosphatidylserine. The contributions of these pathways to total phosphatidylethanolamine synthesis have remained unclear. Although Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of human and animal trypanosomiasis, has served as a model organism to elucidate the entire reaction sequence for glycosylphosphatidylinositol biosynthesis, the pathways for the synthesis of the major phospholipid classes have received little attention. We now show that disruption of the CDP-ethanolamine branch of the Kennedy pathway using RNA interference results in dramatic changes in phosphatidyle

SUBMITTER: Signorell A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3259767 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature