An Intracellular Ammonium Transporter Is Necessary for Replication, Differentiation, and Resistance to Starvation and Osmotic Stress in Trypanosoma cruzi.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, undergoes drastic metabolic changes when it transits between a vector and mammalian hosts. Amino acid catabolism leads to the production of ammonium (NH₄⁺), which needs to be detoxified. However, T. cruzi does not possess a urea cycle, and it is unknown how intracellular levels of ammonium are controlled. In this work, we identified an intracellular ammonium transporter of T. cruzi (TcAMT) that localizes to acidic compartments (reservosomes, lysosomes). TcAMT has 11 transmembrane domains and possesses all conserved and functionally important amino acid residues that form the pore in other ammonium transporters. Functional expression in Xenopus oocytes followed by a two-electrode volt

SUBMITTER: Cruz-Bustos T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5770540 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature