Interspecies quorum sensing in co-infections can manipulate trypanosome transmission potential.

ABSTRACT: Quorum sensing (QS) is commonly used in microbial communities and some unicellular parasites to coordinate group behaviours ^1,2 . An example is Trypanosoma brucei, which causes human African trypanosomiasis, as well as the livestock disease, nagana. Trypanosomes are spread by tsetse flies, their transmission being enabled by cell-cycle arrested 'stumpy forms' that are generated in a density-dependent manner in mammalian blood. QS is mediated through a small (<500 Da), non-proteinaceous, stable but unidentified 'stumpy induction factor' ³ , whose signal response pathway has been identified. Although QS is characterized in T. brucei, co-infections with other trypanosome species (Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma vivax) are common in animals, generating the potentia

SUBMITTER: Silvester E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5660621 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature