RESUMO
Hydrogenosomes and mitosomes represent remarkable mitochondrial adaptations in the anaerobic parasitic protists such as Trichomonas vaginalis and Giardia intestinalis, respectively. In order to provide a tool to study these organelles in the live cells, the HaloTag was fused to G. intestinalis IscU and T. vaginalis frataxin and expressed in the mitosomes and hydrogenosomes, respectively. The incubation of the parasites with the fluorescent Halo-ligand resulted in highly specific organellar labeling, allowing live imaging of the organelles. With the array of available ligands the HaloTag technology offers a new tool to study the dynamics of mitochondria-related compartments as well as other cellular components in these intriguing unicellular eukaryotes.
Assuntos
Imagem Molecular/métodos , Organelas/metabolismo , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/genética , Anaerobiose , Sobrevivência Celular , Genes Reporter/genética , Vetores Genéticos/genética , Giardia lamblia/citologia , Giardia lamblia/genética , Hidrolases/genética , Ligantes , Mitocôndrias/metabolismo , Proteínas de Protozoários/genética , Trichomonas vaginalis/citologia , Trichomonas vaginalis/genéticaRESUMO
Glucokinase genes, found in the genome databases of Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major, were cloned and sequenced. Their expression in Escherichia coli resulted in the synthesis of soluble and active enzymes, TcGlcK and LmjGlcK, with a molecular mass of 43 kDa and 46 kDa, respectively. The enzymes were purified, and values of their kinetic parameters determined. The K(m) values for glucose were 1.0 mM for TcGlcK and 3.3 mM for LmjGlcK. For ATP, the K(m) values were 0.36 mM (TcGlcK) and 0.35 mM (LmjGlcK). A lower K(m) value for glucose (2.55 mM) was found when the (His)(6)-tag was removed from the recombinant LmjGlcK, whereas the TcGlcK retained the same value. The V(max)'s of the T. cruzi and L. major GlcKs were 36.3 and 30.9 U/mg of protein, respectively. No inhibition was exerted by glucose-6-phosphate. Similarly, no inhibition by inorganic pyrophosphate was found in contrast to previous observations made for the T. cruzi and L. mexicana hexokinases. Both trypanosomatid enzymes were only able to phosphorylate glucose indicating that they are true glucokinases. Gel-filtration chromatography showed that the GlcK of both trypanosomatids may occur as a monomer or dimer, dependent on the protein concentration. Both GlcK sequences have a type-1 peroxisome-targeting signal. Indeed, they were shown to be present inside glycosomes using three different methods. These glucokinases present highest, albeit still a moderate 24% sequence identity with their counterpart from Trichomonas vaginalis, which has been classified into group A of the hexokinase family. This group comprises mainly eubacterial and cyanobacterial glucokinases. Indeed, multiple sequence comparisons, as well as kinetic properties, strongly support the notion that these trypanosomatid enzymes belong to group A of the hexokinases, in which they, according to a phylogenetic analysis, form a separate cluster.
Assuntos
Glucoquinase/genética , Glucoquinase/metabolismo , Leishmania major/enzimologia , Trypanosoma cruzi/enzimologia , Trifosfato de Adenosina/metabolismo , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Cromatografia em Gel , Clonagem Molecular , Dimerização , Inibidores Enzimáticos/farmacologia , Escherichia coli/genética , Glucoquinase/química , Glucoquinase/isolamento & purificação , Glucose/metabolismo , Glucose-6-Fosfato/farmacologia , Cinética , Leishmania major/genética , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Peso Molecular , Peroxissomos/química , Fosfatos/farmacologia , Filogenia , Sinais Direcionadores de Proteínas/genética , Proteínas de Protozoários/química , Proteínas de Protozoários/genética , Proteínas de Protozoários/isolamento & purificação , Proteínas de Protozoários/metabolismo , Proteínas Recombinantes/biossíntese , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/isolamento & purificação , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismo , Homologia de Sequência de Aminoácidos , Especificidade por Substrato , Trichomonas vaginalis/genética , Trypanosoma cruzi/genéticaRESUMO
Hexokinase from Leishmania mexicana was purified to homogeneity from a glycosome-enriched fraction obtained after a differential centrifugation of promastigote form. The kinetic properties of the pure enzyme were determined and the Km values for glucose (Km = 66 microM) and ATP (Km = 303 muM) were comparable to those from hexokinase of Trypanosoma cruzi. L. mexicana hexokinase was able to use fructose (Km = 142 microM), which reflects the condition found in the insect host. In contrast with hexokinases from other trypanosomatids, the enzyme exhibited a moderate sensitivity to inhibition by glucose 6-phosphate. This inhibition was competitive with respect to both ATP and glucose, indicating that an allosteric site for glucose 6-phosphate does not exist in this enzyme. The enzyme was also inhibited by inorganic pyrophosphate, the inhibition being higher than that observed for T. cruzi enzyme. As expected, the enzyme was localized, by immunofluorescence analysis, in glycosomes and is present in both promastigotes and true amastigotes obtained from hamster lesion. Hexokinase specific activity increased with the aging of promastigote culture, and this increment was related to glucose consumption. However, the level of the hexokinase protein remains constant as determined by Western blotting. Several hypotheses are discussed to explain this result.
