title: Comparative analysis of respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation in Leishmania tarentolae, Crithidia fasciculata, Phytomonas serpens and procyclic stage of Trypanosoma brucei.
abstract: Trypanosomatids are unicellular parasites living in a wide range of host environments, which to large extent shaped their mitochondrial energy metabolism, resulting in quite large differences even among closely related flagellates. In a comparative manner, we analyzed the activities and composition of mitochondrial respiratory complexes in four species (Leishmania tarentolae, Crithidia fasciculata, Phytomonas serpens and Trypanosoma brucei), which represent the main model trypanosomatids. Moreover, we measured the activity of mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, the overall oxygen consumption and the mitochondrial membrane potential in each species. The comparative analysis suggests an inverse relationship between the activities of respiratory complexes I and II, as well as the overall activity of the canonical complexes and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Our comparative analysis shows that mitochondrial functions are highly variable in these versatile parasites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; Biology Centre, Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zdeněk
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Verner
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cermáková
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; Biology Centre, Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Skodová
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Bianka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kováčová
authors.affiliation: Biology Centre, Institute of Parasitology, České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic; Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice (Budweis) , Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lukeš
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia. Electronic address: horvath@fns.uniba.sk.
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horváth
mesh_terms: D004579:Electron Transport; D005993:Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D053078:Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D014351:Trypanosomatina / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005993:Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Crithidia; Leishmania; Mitochondrion; Oxidative phosphorylation; Phytomonas; Trypanosoma