title: Trypanosomes and mammalian sperm: one of a kind?
abstract: Flagellar-mediated motility is an indispensable function for cell types as evolutionarily distant as mammalian sperm and kinetoplastid parasites, a large group of flagellated protozoa that includes several important human pathogens. Despite the obvious importance of flagellar motility, little is known about the signalling processes that direct the frequency and wave shape of the flagellar beat, or those that provide the motile cell with the necessary environmental cues that enable it to aim its movement. Similarly, the energetics of the flagellar beat and the problem of a sufficient ATP supply along the entire length of the beating flagellum remain to be explored. Recent proteome projects studying the flagella of mammalian sperm and kinetoplastid parasites have provided important information and have indicated a surprising degree of similarities between the flagella of these two cell types.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oberholzer
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bregy
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marti
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Minca
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peier
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seebeck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D005407:Flagella / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006019:Glycolysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009712:Nucleotides, Cyclic / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009712:Nucleotides, Cyclic