Unsaturated glycerophospholipids mediate heme crystallization: biological implications for hemozoin formation in the kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus.

ABSTRACT: Hemozoin (Hz) is a heme crystal produced by some blood-feeding organisms, as an efficient way to detoxify heme derived from hemoglobin digestion. In the triatomine insect Rhodnius prolixus, Hz is essentially produced by midgut extracellular phospholipid membranes known as perimicrovillar membranes (PMVM). Here, we investigated the role of commercial glycerophospholipids containing serine, choline and ethanolamine as headgroups and R. prolixus midgut lipids (RML) in heme crystallization. All commercial unsaturated forms of phospholipids, as well as RML, mediated fast and efficient β-hematin formation by means of two kinetically distinct mechanisms: an early and fast component, followed by a late and slow one. The fastest reactions observed were induced by unsaturated forms of phosphatidylet

SUBMITTER: Stiebler R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3935856 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature