Functional study of the Aurora kinase protein family in Trypanosoma cruzi

FASSOLARI, M.; FLAWIÁ M.; ALONSO G.

Puerto Varas

Congreso; XII PABMB Congress 2013.; 2013

Pan American Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Societies

Aurora kinase protein family plays a key role during cell division. These enzymes were described in most of the studied organisms showing differences in the number of members among different species. Among the processes where they are involved, it is worth to mention, centrosome maturation and division, chromatin condensation, mitotic spindle assembly, control of kinetochore-microtubule attachments and initiation of cytokinesis. In this work, our aim was to characterize three Aurora kinases (TcAUK1, -2 and -3) that we have previously found in T. cruzi and determine their role in the parasite biology. We have initiated functional studies for these enzymes by subcellular localization, protein overexpression and cell cycle analysis. Here we show that TcAUKs are regulated through variation of their subcellular localization during the cell cycle progression. In addition, recently we found evidence for SUMO posttranslational modification of TcAUKs. The overexpression of each of these enzymes leads to growth curve alterations and cell cycle disturbances. Taking together our results, we concluded that TcAUK1 could be considered as the canonical Aurora kinase showing the dynamic subcellular localization described for human Aurora B. Moreover, this enzyme is involved in kinetoplast division cycle. On the other hand, TcAUK2 and TcAUK3 are involved in processes related to microtubule dynamics.