Arginase Is Essential for Survival of Leishmania donovani Promastigotes but Not Intracellular Amastigotes.

ABSTRACT: Studies of Leishmania donovani have shown that both ornithine decarboxylase and spermidine synthase, two enzymes of the polyamine biosynthetic pathway, are critical for promastigote proliferation and required for maximum infection in mice. However, the importance of arginase (ARG), the first enzyme of the polyamine pathway in Leishmania, has not been analyzed in L. donovani To test ARG function in intact parasites, we generated Δarg null mutants in L. donovani and evaluated their ability to proliferate in vitro and trigger infections in mice. The Δarg knockout was incapable of growth in the absence of polyamine supplementation, but the auxotrophic phenotype could be bypassed by addition of either millimolar concentrations of ornithine or micromolar concentrations of putrescine or by comple

SUBMITTER: Boitz JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5203656 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature