Aspartate transport and metabolism in Tryanosoma cruzi.

CANEPA, GASPAR; BOUVIER, LEON; MIRANDA, MARIANA; PEREIRA, CA

Mendoza

Congreso; VII Congreso Argentino de Protozoología y Enfermedades Parasitarias; 2005

Aspartate is one of the components of the TAU3-AG medium, used for in vitro metacyclogenesis assays of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. However, little is known about the transport and metabolism of such amino acid. L-asparate is transported by epimastigotes and trypomastigotes at similar rates. The kinetic parameters of the aspartate transport were calculated. Aspartate transport is only competed by glutamate suggesting that this transport system is specific for anionic amino acids. This transport activity is regulated by amino acid starvation, pH and during the parasite growth curve. The metabolic fate of aspartate was predicted in silico by identification of seven putative genes coding for enzymes involved in aspartate metabolism that could be related to the differentiation process. In addition, two putative T. cruzi amino acid transporters belonging to a large gene family recently identified in our laboratory are now under characterization.