TcCARP3 modulates compartmentalized cAMP signals involved in osmoregulation, infection of mammalian cells, and colonization of the triatomine vector in the human pathogen .

is the causative agent of Chagas disease, a zoonotic infectious disease considered a leading cause of cardiomyopathy, disability, and premature death in the Americas. This parasite spends its life between a mammalian host and an arthropod vector, undergoing essential transitions among different developmental forms. How senses microenvironmental changes that trigger cellular responses necessary for parasite survival has remained largely unknown.

A key regulator of male gametogenesis in Cryptosporidium.

Gamete development is a precisely programmed process in Cryptosporidium parvum, a leading cause of diarrheal disease worldwide. Nava et al. recently described the developmentally regulated expression of CDPK5 during male gametogenesis.

mSphere of Influence: Compartmentalized cAMP signals in American trypanosomes.

Noelia Lander works on cell signaling in American trypanosomes and studies the role of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) microdomains in environmental sensing and differentiation. In this mSphere of Influence, Dr. Lander reflects on three research articles in different eukaryotic models that had impacted on the way she thinks about the regulation of cAMP signals in , the etiologic agent of Chagas disease.

Gene editing of putative cAMP and Ca -regulated proteins using an efficient cloning-free CRISPR/Cas9 system in Trypanosoma cruzi.

Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, must adapt to a diversity of environmental conditions that it faces during its life cycle. The adaptation to these changes is mediated by signaling pathways that coordinate the cellular responses to the new environmental settings. Cyclic AMP (cAMP) and Calcium (Ca ) signaling pathways regulate critical cellular processes in this parasite, such as differentiation, osmoregulation, host cell invasion and cell bioenergetics.

Gene editing of putative cAMP and Ca -regulated proteins using an efficient cloning-free CRISPR/Cas9 system in .

, the agent of Chagas disease, must adapt to a diversity of environmental conditions that it faces during its life cycle. The adaptation to these changes is mediated by signaling pathways that coordinate the cellular responses to the new environmental settings. Cyclic AMP (cAMP) and Calcium (Ca ) signaling pathways regulate critical cellular processes in this parasite, such as differentiation, osmoregulation, host cell invasion and cell bioenergetics.

Dual localization of receptor-type adenylate cyclases and cAMP response protein 3 unveils the presence of two putative signaling microdomains in .

is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, a leading cause of disability and premature death in the Americas. This parasite spends its life between a triatomine insect and a mammalian host, transitioning between developmental stages in response to microenvironmental changes. Among the second messengers driving differentiation in , cAMP has been shown to mediate metacyclogenesis and response to osmotic stress, but this signaling pathway remains largely unexplored in this parasite.

Ablation of the Gene of Provides Evidence of P21 as a Mediator in the Control of Epimastigote and Intracellular Amastigote Replication.

P21 is an immunomodulatory protein expressed throughout the life cycle of , the etiologic agent of Chagas disease. and studies have shown that P21 plays an important role in the invasion of mammalian host cells and establishment of infection in a murine model. P21 functions as a signal transducer, triggering intracellular cascades in host cells and resulting in the remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton and parasite internalization.

The long and winding road of reverse genetics in .

Trypanosomes are early divergent protists with distinctive features among eukaryotic cells. Together with and spp., has been one of the most studied members of the group.

Mitochondrial Ca homeostasis in trypanosomes.

Mitochondrial calcium ion (Ca) uptake is important for buffering cytosolic Ca levels, for regulating cell bioenergetics, and for cell death and autophagy. Ca uptake is mediated by a mitochondrial Ca uniporter (MCU) and the discovery of this channel in trypanosomes has been critical for the identification of the molecular nature of the channel in all eukaryotes. However, the trypanosome uniporter, which has been studied in detail in Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, and T.

A novel mechanosensitive channel controls osmoregulation, differentiation, and infectivity in .

The causative agent of Chagas disease undergoes drastic morphological and biochemical modifications as it passes between hosts and transitions from extracellular to intracellular stages. The osmotic and mechanical aspects of these cellular transformations are not understood. Here we identify and characterize a novel mechanosensitive channel in (TcMscS) belonging to the superfamily of small-conductance mechanosensitive channels (MscS).

Trypanosoma cruzi Letm1 is involved in mitochondrial Ca transport, and is essential for replication, differentiation, and host cell invasion.

Leucine zipper-EF-hand containing transmembrane protein 1 (Letm1) is a mitochondrial inner membrane protein involved in Ca and K homeostasis in mammalian cells. Here, we demonstrate that the Letm1 orthologue of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, is important for mitochondrial Ca uptake and release. The results show that both mitochondrial Ca influx and efflux are reduced in TcLetm1 knockdown (TcLetm1-KD) cells and increased in TcLetm1 overexpressing cells, without alterations in the mitochondrial membrane potential.

Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier Subunits Are Essential for Pyruvate-Driven Respiration, Infectivity, and Intracellular Replication of Trypanosoma cruzi.

Pyruvate is the final metabolite of glycolysis and can be converted into acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) in mitochondria, where it is used as the substrate for the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Pyruvate availability in mitochondria depends on its active transport through the heterocomplex formed by the mitochondrial pyruvate carriers 1 and 2 (MPC1/MPC2). We report here studies on MPC1/MPC2 of , the etiologic agent of Chagas disease.

Signaling pathways involved in environmental sensing in Trypanosoma cruzi.

Trypanosoma cruzi is a unicellular parasite and the etiologic agent of Chagas disease. The parasite has a digenetic life cycle alternating between mammalian and insect hosts, where it faces a variety of environmental conditions to which it must adapt in order to survive. The adaptation to these changes is mediated by signaling pathways that coordinate the cellular responses to the new environmental settings.

IP receptor-mediated Ca release from acidocalcisomes regulates mitochondrial bioenergetics and prevents autophagy in Trypanosoma cruzi.

In contrast to animal cells, the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor of Trypanosoma cruzi (TcIPR) localizes to acidocalcisomes instead of the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we present evidence that TcIPR is a Ca release channel gated by IP when expressed in DT40 cells knockout for all vertebrate IP receptors, and is required for Ca uptake by T. cruzi mitochondria, regulating pyruvate dehydrogenase dephosphorylation and mitochondrial O consumption, and preventing autophagy.

Lathosterol Oxidase (Sterol C-5 Desaturase) Deletion Confers Resistance to Amphotericin B and Sensitivity to Acidic Stress in Leishmania major.

Lathosterol oxidase (LSO) catalyzes the formation of the C-5-C-6 double bond in the synthesis of various types of sterols in mammals, fungi, plants, and protozoa. In parasites, mutations in or other sterol biosynthetic genes are associated with amphotericin B resistance. To investigate the biological roles of sterol C-5-C-6 desaturation, we generated an -null mutant line ( ) in , the causative agent for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Publisher Correction: Genetic tool development in marine protists: emerging model organisms for experimental cell biology.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Genetic tool development in marine protists: emerging model organisms for experimental cell biology.

Diverse microbial ecosystems underpin life in the sea. Among these microbes are many unicellular eukaryotes that span the diversity of the eukaryotic tree of life. However, genetic tractability has been limited to a few species, which do not represent eukaryotic diversity or environmentally relevant taxa.

CRISPR/Cas9 Technology Applied to the Study of Proteins Involved in Calcium Signaling in Trypanosoma cruzi.

Chagas disease is a vector-borne tropical disease affecting millions of people worldwide, for which there is no vaccine or satisfactory treatment available. It is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and considered endemic from North to South America. This parasite has unique metabolic and structural characteristics that make it an attractive organism for basic research.

A CRISPR/Cas9-riboswitch-Based Method for Downregulation of Gene Expression in .

Few genetic tools were available to work with until the recent introduction of the CRISPR/Cas9 technique for gene knockout, gene knock-in, gene complementation, and endogenous gene tagging. Riboswitches are naturally occurring self-cleaving RNAs (ribozymes) that can be ligand-activated. Results from our laboratory recently demonstrated the usefulness of the ribozyme from , which has been shown to control reporter gene expression in response to exogenous glucosamine, for gene silencing in .

State-of-the-art CRISPR/Cas9 Technology for Genome Editing in Trypanosomatids.

CRISPR/Cas9 technology has revolutionized biology. This prokaryotic defense system against foreign DNA has been repurposed for genome editing in a broad range of cell tissues and organisms. Trypanosomatids are flagellated protozoa belonging to the order Kinetoplastida.

Direct determination of anaerobe contributions to the energy metabolism of Trypanosoma cruzi by chip calorimetry.

We describe a chip calorimetric technique that allows the investigation of biological material under anoxic conditions in a micro-scale and in real time. Due to the fast oxygen exchange through the sample flow channel wall, the oxygen concentration inside the samples could be switched between atmospheric oxygen partial pressure to an oxygen concentration of 0.5% within less than 2 h.

Functional analysis and importance for host cell infection of the Ca-conducting subunits of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter of .

We report here that the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, possesses two unique paralogues of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter complex subunit that we named and . The predicted structure of the proteins indicates that, as predicted for the and paralogues, they are composed of two helical membrane-spanning domains and contain a WDXXEPXXY motif. Overexpression of each gene led to a significant increase in mitochondrial Ca uptake, while knockout (KO) of either or led to a loss of mitochondrial Ca uptake, without affecting the mitochondrial membrane potential.

MICU1 and MICU2 Play an Essential Role in Mitochondrial Ca Uptake, Growth, and Infectivity of the Human Pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi.

The mitochondrial Ca uptake in trypanosomatids, which belong to the eukaryotic supergroup Excavata, shares biochemical characteristics with that of animals, which, together with fungi, belong to the supergroup Opisthokonta. However, the composition of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) complex in trypanosomatids is quite peculiar, suggesting lineage-specific adaptations. In this work, we used to study the role of orthologs for mitochondrial calcium uptake 1 (MICU1) and MICU2 in mitochondrial Ca uptake.

Genome Editing by CRISPR/Cas9 in Trypanosoma cruzi.

The genetic manipulation of the human parasite Trypanosoma cruzi has been significantly improved since the implementation of the CRISPR/Cas9 system for genome editing in this organism. The system was initially used for gene knockout in T. cruzi, later on for endogenous gene tagging and more recently for gene complementation.