Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Importance of polyphosphate in the Leishmania life cycle.


ABSTRACT: Protozoan parasites contain negatively charged polymers of a few up to several hundreds of phosphate residues. In other organisms, these poly-phosphate (polyP) chains serve as an energy source and phosphate reservoir, and have been implicated in adaptation to stress and virulence of pathogenic organisms. In this study, we confirmed first that the polyP polymerase vacuolar transporter chaperone 4 (VTC4) is responsible for polyP synthesis in Leishmania parasites. During Leishmaniain vitro culture, polyP is accumulated in logarithmic growth phase and subsequently consumed once stationary phase is reached. However, polyP is not essential since VTC4-deficient (vtc4- ) Leishmania proliferated normally in culture and differentiated into infective metacyclic parasites and into intracellular and axenic amastigotes. In in vivo mouse infections, L. majorVTC4 knockout showed a delay in lesion formation but ultimately gave rise to strong pathology, although we were unable to restore virulence by complementation to confirm this phenotype. Knockdown of VTC4 did not alter the course of L. guyanensis infections in mice, suggesting that polyP was not required for infection, or that very low levels of it suffice for lesion development. At higher temperatures, Leishmania promastigotes highly consumed polyP, and both knockdown or deletion of VTC4 diminished parasite survival. Thus, although polyP was not essential in the life cycle of the parasite, our data suggests a role for polyP in increasing parasite survival at higher temperatures, a situation faced by the parasite when transmitted to humans.

SUBMITTER: Kohl K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6116282 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

altmetric image

Publications

Importance of polyphosphate in the <i>Leishmania</i> life cycle.

Kohl Kid K   Zangger Haroun H   Rossi Matteo M   Isorce Nathalie N   Lye Lon-Fye LF   Owens Katherine L KL   Beverley Stephen M SM   Mayer Andreas A   Fasel Nicolas N  

Microbial cell (Graz, Austria) 20180622 8


Protozoan parasites contain negatively charged polymers of a few up to several hundreds of phosphate residues. In other organisms, these poly-phosphate (polyP) chains serve as an energy source and phosphate reservoir, and have been implicated in adaptation to stress and virulence of pathogenic organisms. In this study, we confirmed first that the polyP polymerase vacuolar transporter chaperone 4 (<i>VTC4</i>) is responsible for polyP synthesis in <i>Leishmania</i> parasites. During <i>Leishmania  ...[more]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC7319358 | biostudies-literature
2020-04-07 | MSV000085242 | MassIVE
| S-EPMC8409730 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4760377 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3086735 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3654555 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3256613 | biostudies-literature
2005-09-10 | E-GEOD-3286 | biostudies-arrayexpress
2005-09-10 | GSE3286 | GEO
2004-11-04 | GSE1761 | GEO