Endogenous Sterol Synthesis Is Dispensable for Trypanosoma cruzi Epimastigote Growth but Not Stress Tolerance.

ABSTRACT: In addition to scavenging exogenous cholesterol, the parasitic kinetoplastid Trypanosoma cruzi can endogenously synthesize sterols. Similar to fungal species, T. cruzi synthesizes ergostane type sterols and is sensitive to a class of azole inhibitors of ergosterol biosynthesis that target the enzyme lanosterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51). In the related kinetoplastid parasite Leishmania donovani, CYP51 is essential, yet in Leishmania major, the cognate enzyme is dispensable for growth; but not heat resistance. The essentiality of CYP51 and the specific role of ergostane-type sterol products in T. cruzi has not been established. To better understand the importance of this pathway, we have disrupted the CYP51 gene in T. cruzi epimastigotes (ΔCY

SUBMITTER: Dumoulin PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9248972 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature