Arginine metabolism in Trypanosoma cruzi is coupled to parasite stage and replication

L-Arginine plays an essential role in the energetic metabolism of Trypanosoma cruzi. In this work we propose a relationship between L-arginine uptake, arginine kinase activity and the parasite replication ability. In epimastigote cultures L-arginine uptake decreases continuously accompanying a cell...

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Autores principales: Pereira, C.A., Alonso, G.D., Ivaldi, S., Silber, A., Alves, M.J.M., Bouvier, L.A., Flawiá, M.M., Torres, H.N.
Formato: JOUR
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00145793_v526_n1-3_p111_Pereira
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Sumario:L-Arginine plays an essential role in the energetic metabolism of Trypanosoma cruzi. In this work we propose a relationship between L-arginine uptake, arginine kinase activity and the parasite replication ability. In epimastigote cultures L-arginine uptake decreases continuously accompanying a cell replication rate reduction. The use of conditioned or fresh medium mimics uptake variations. Interestingly, in non-replicative trypomastigote cells, L-arginine uptake was undetectable. The association between L-arginine uptake and cell replication was demonstrated using the antimitotic agent hydroxyurea. Arginine kinase, the enzyme responsible for phosphoarginine and ATP synthesis, also shows a differential activity in epimastigote and trypomastigote parasite stages. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.