STUDY OF THE SUBCELLULAR LOCALIZATION OF TRYPANOSOMACRUZIARGININEKINASE

MIRANDA, MARIANA; BOUVIER, LEÓN ALBERTO; CANEPA, GASPAR; PEREIRA, CLAUDIO

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XLIII Reunión anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB); 2007

Arginine kinase belongs to the guanidine kinase enzyme family and catalyzes the reversible synthesis of phosphoarginine, a molecule involved in cell energy homeostasis. It was postulated that phosphagen kinases participate in an enzymatic ?phosphotransfer network? that communicates spatially separated intracellular ATP consumption and production processes. In order to understand the physiological role of arginine kinase in , the causative agent of Chagas´ Disease, we investigated the presence of isoforms in the genome of the parasite by data mining and the subcellular localization by digitonin extraction and inmunofluorescence approaches. Although two putative isoforms were annotated in the genome, only one is expressed during the parasite life cycle. In epimastigotes arginine kinase is mainly localized in vacuolar structures that co-localize at specific points with the mitochondrial reticulum, in addition to a soluble enzyme in the bulk cytosol. The determination of arginine kinase subcellular localization will be a critical feature to better understand the enzymatic phosphotransfer network in this parasite.