Evidence for the role of vacuolar soluble pyrophosphatase and inorganic polyphosphate in Trypanosoma cruzi persistence.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma cruzi infection leads to development of a chronic disease but the mechanisms that the parasite utilizes to establish a persistent infection despite activation of a potent immune response by the host are currently unknown. Unusual characteristics of T. cruzi are that it possesses cellular levels of pyrophosphate (PPi ) at least 10 times higher than those of ATP and molar levels of inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) within acidocalcisomes. We characterized an inorganic soluble EF-hand containing pyrophosphatase from T. cruzi (TcVSP) that, depending on the pH and cofactors, can hydrolyse either pyrophosphate (PPi ) or polyphosphate (polyP). The enzyme is localized to both acidocalcisomes and cytosol. Overexpression of TcVSP (TcVSP-OE) resulted in a significant decrease in cytosolic P

SUBMITTER: Galizzi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3826824 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature