Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug;114(8):203-210.
doi: 10.1111/boc.202100038. Epub 2022 May 3.

3D FIB-SEM structural insights into the architecture of sub-pellicular microtubules of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes

Juliana C Vidal  1 , Wanderley De Souza  1
Affiliations

3D FIB-SEM structural insights into the architecture of sub-pellicular microtubules of Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes

Juliana C Vidal et al. Biol Cell. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Background information: Trypanosomatidae, which includes eukaryotic species agents of diseases like leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness, and Chagas disease, have special structures and organelles not found in mammalian cells. They present a layer of microtubules, known as subpellicular microtubules (SPMT), located underneath the plasma membrane and responsible for preserving cell morphology, cell polarity, the position of single copy organelles, and morphological changes that occur throughout the protozoan life cycle. Even though a lot of knowledge about the SPMT is available, we still do not know exactly how each microtubule in the system is organized in three dimensions. Here, we use focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) to analyze the tridimensional organization of epimastigotes SPMT.

Results: The high-resolution 3D analyses revealed that certain microtubules of the SPMT end more prematurely than the neighboring ones.

Conclusions: These microtubules could (1) be shorter or (2) have the same length as the neighboring ones, assuming that those end up earlier at their other end, might be treadmilling/catastrophe events that have not yet been described in trypanosomatids.

Keywords: FIB-SEM; Trypanosoma cruzi; cytoskeleton; subpellicular microtubules; trypanosomatid.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Alonso, V.L., Carloni, M.E., Gonçalves, C.S., Martinez Peralta, G., Chesta, M.E., Pezza, A., Tavernelli, L.E., Motta, M. & Serra, E. (2021) Alpha-tubulin acetylation in Trypanosoma cruzi: a dynamic instability of microtubules is required for replication and cell cycle progression. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 11, 642271.
    1. Angelopoulos, E. (1970) Pellicular microtubules in the family Trypanosomatidae. Journal of Protozoology, 17, 39-51.
    1. Baum, S.G., Wittner, M., Nadler, J.P., Horwitz, S.B., Dennis, J.E., Schiff, P.B. & Tanowitz, H.B. (1981) Taxol, a microtubule stabilizing agent, blocks the replication of Trypanosoma cruzi. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 78(7), 4571-4575.
    1. Camargo, E.P. (1964) Growth and differentiation in Trypanosoma cruzi. I. Origin of metacyclic trypanosomes in liquid media. Revista Do Instituto De Medicina Tropical De Sao Paulo, 6, 93-100.
    1. Casanova, M., de Monbrison, F., Van Dijk, J., Janke, C., Pagès, M. & Bastien, P. (2015) Characterisation of polyglutamylases in trypanosomatids. International Journal for Parasitology, 45, 121-132.

LinkOut - more resources