Dataset Information

Cancer in the parasitic protozoans Trypanosoma brucei and Toxoplasma gondii.

ABSTRACT: Cancer is a general name for more than 100 malignant diseases. It is postulated that all cancers start from a single abnormal cell that grows out of control. Untreated cancers can cause serious consequences and deaths. Great progress has been made in cancer research that has significantly improved our knowledge and understanding of the nature and mechanisms of the disease, but the origins of cancer are far from being well understood due to the limitations of suitable model systems and to the complexities of the disease. In view of the fact that cancers are found in various species of vertebrates and other metazoa, here, we suggest that cancer also occurs in parasitic protozoans such as Trypanosoma brucei, a blood parasite, and Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular pathogen. Without treatment, these protozoan cancers may cause severe disease and death in mammals, including humans. The simpler genomes of these single-cell organisms, in combination with their complex life cycles and fascinating life cycle differentiation processes, may help us to better understand the origins of cancers and, in particular, leukemias.

SUBMITTER: Lun ZR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4517281 | biostudies-other | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Genetic exchange has been described in several kinetoplastid parasites, but the most well-studied mating system is that of Trypanosoma brucei, the causative organism of African sleeping sickness. Sexual reproduction takes place in the salivary glands (SG) of the tsetse vector and involves meiosis and production of haploid gametes. Few genetic crosses have been carried out to date and consequently there is little information about the mating compatibility of different trypanosomes. In other single-celled eukaryotes, mating compatibility is typically determined by a system of two or more mating types (MT). Here we investigated the MT system in T. brucei.We analysed a large series of F1, F2 and back crosses by pairwise co-transmission of red and green fluorescent cloned cell lines through experimental tsetse flies. To analyse each cross, trypanosomes were cloned from fly SG containing a mixture of both parents, and genotyped by microsatellites and molecular karyotype. To investigate mating compatibility at the level of individual cells, we directly observed the behaviour of SG-derived gametes in intra- or interclonal mixtures of red and green fluorescent trypanosomes ex vivo.Hybrid progeny were found in all F1 and F2 crosses and most of the back crosses. The success of individual crosses was highly variable as judged by the number of hybrid clones produced, suggesting a range of mating compatibilities among F1 progeny. As well as hybrids, large numbers of recombinant genotypes resulting from intraclonal mating (selfers) were found in some crosses. In ex vivo mixtures, red and green fluorescent trypanosome gametes were observed to pair up and interact via their flagella in both inter- and intraclonal combinations. While yellow hybrid trypanosomes were frequently observed in interclonal mixtures, such evidence of cytoplasmic exchange was rare in the intraclonal mixtures.The outcomes of individual crosses, particularly back crosses, were variable in numbers of both hybrid and selfer clones produced, and do not readily fit a simple two MT model. From comparison of the behaviour of trypanosome gametes in inter- and intraclonal mixtures, we infer that mating compatibility is controlled at the level of gamete fusion.

Dataset Information

Cancer in the parasitic protozoans Trypanosoma brucei and Toxoplasma gondii.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets