Trypanosoma cruzi co-expressing ornithine decarboxylase and green fluorescence proteins as a tool to study the role of polyamines in Chagas disease phatology.

JEREMÍAS JOSÉ BARCLAY ; LUCIANO GASTÓN MOROSI ; MARÍA CRISTINA VANRELL ; EDITH CORINA TREJO; PATRICIA SILVIA ROMANO; CARRILLO CAROLINA

Enzyme Research

SAGE-Hindawi

Año: 2011 p. 657460 - 657470

2090-0414

Polyamines are essential for Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas´ disease. As T. cruzi behaves as a natural auxotrophic organism it relies on host polyamines biosynthesis. In this work we obtained a double-transfected T. cruzi parasites that express a heterologous ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and the green fluorescence protein (GFP). These autotrophic and fluorescent parasites were characterized; the ODC presented an apparent Km for ornithine of 0.51 ± 0.16 mM and an estimated Vmax value of 476,2 nmoles/h/mg of protein. This expressing ODC parasites showed higher metacyclogenesis capacity than the auxotrophic counterpart, supporting the idea that polyamines are engaged in this process. These double-transfected T. cruzi parasites results a powerful tool to study the role of polyamines in Chagas´disease pathology and in related process such as parasite survival, invasion, proliferation, metacyclogenesis and tissue spreading. To our knowledge this is the first time that a double-transfected T. cruzi strain was described.