The Trypanosoma brucei cAMP phosphodiesterases TbrPDEB1 and TbrPDEB2: flagellar enzymes that are essential for parasite virulence

Oberholzer, Michael; Marti, Gabriela; Baresic, Mario; Kunz, Stefan; Hemphill, Andrew; Seebeck, Thomas (2007). The Trypanosoma brucei cAMP phosphodiesterases TbrPDEB1 and TbrPDEB2: flagellar enzymes that are essential for parasite virulence. FASEB journal, 21(3), pp. 720-731. Bethesda, Md.: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 10.1096/fj.06-6818com

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Cyclic nucleotide specific phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are pivotal regulators of cellular signaling. They are also important drug targets. Besides catalytic activity and substrate specificity, their subcellular localization and interaction with other cell components are also functionally important. In contrast to the mammalian PDEs, the significance of PDEs in protozoal pathogens remains mostly unknown. The genome of Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of human sleeping sickness, codes for five different PDEs. Two of these, TbrPDEB1 and TbrPDEB2, are closely similar, cAMP-specific PDEs containing two GAF-domains in their N-terminal regions. Despite their similarity, these two PDEs exhibit different subcellular localizations. TbrPDEB1 is located in the flagellum, whereas TbrPDEB2 is distributed between flagellum and cytoplasm. RNAi against the two mRNAs revealed that the two enzymes can complement each other but that a simultaneous ablation of both leads to cell death in bloodstream form trypanosomes. RNAi against TbrPDEB1 and TbrPDEB2 also functions in vivo where it completely prevents infection and eliminates ongoing infections. Our data demonstrate that TbrPDEB1 and TbrPDEB2 are essential for virulence, making them valuable potential targets for new PDE-inhibitor based trypanocidal drugs. Furthermore, they are compatible with the notion that the flagellum of T. brucei is an important site of cAMP signaling.--Oberholzer, M., Marti, G., Baresic, M., Kunz, S., Hemphill, A., Seebeck, T. The Trypanosoma brucei cAMP phosphodiesterases TbrPDEB1 and TbrPDEB2: flagellar enzymes that are essential for parasite virulence.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Institute of Parasitology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Cell Biology

UniBE Contributor:

Hemphill, Andrew, Seebeck, Thomas

ISSN:

0892-6638

Publisher:

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Language:

English

Submitter:

Factscience Import

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 14:45

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:14

Publisher DOI:

10.1096/fj.06-6818com

PubMed ID:

17167070

Web of Science ID:

000244686400011

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/18680 (FactScience: 887)

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