Mantilla BS, Marchese L, Casas-Sánchez A, Dyer NA, Ejeh N, Biran M, Bringaud F, Lehane MJ, Acosta-Serrano A, Silber AM. Proline Metabolism is Essential for Trypanosoma brucei brucei Survival in the Tsetse Vector.
PLoS Pathog 2017;
13:e1006158. [PMID:
28114403 PMCID:
PMC5289646 DOI:
10.1371/journal.ppat.1006158]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2016] [Revised: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 12/29/2016] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Adaptation to different nutritional environments is essential for life cycle completion by all Trypanosoma brucei sub-species. In the tsetse fly vector, L-proline is among the most abundant amino acids and is mainly used by the fly for lactation and to fuel flight muscle. The procyclic (insect) stage of T. b. brucei uses L-proline as its main carbon source, relying on an efficient catabolic pathway to convert it to glutamate, and then to succinate, acetate and alanine as the main secreted end products. Here we investigated the essentiality of an undisrupted proline catabolic pathway in T. b. brucei by studying mitochondrial Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase (TbP5CDH), which catalyzes the irreversible conversion of gamma-glutamate semialdehyde (γGS) into L-glutamate and NADH. In addition, we provided evidence for the absence of a functional proline biosynthetic pathway. TbP5CDH expression is developmentally regulated in the insect stages of the parasite, but absent in bloodstream forms grown in vitro. RNAi down-regulation of TbP5CDH severely affected the growth of procyclic trypanosomes in vitro in the absence of glucose, and altered the metabolic flux when proline was the sole carbon source. Furthermore, TbP5CDH knocked-down cells exhibited alterations in the mitochondrial inner membrane potential (ΔΨm), respiratory control ratio and ATP production. Also, changes in the proline-glutamate oxidative capacity slightly affected the surface expression of the major surface glycoprotein EP-procyclin. In the tsetse, TbP5CDH knocked-down cells were impaired and thus unable to colonize the fly’s midgut, probably due to the lack of glucose between bloodmeals. Altogether, our data show that the regulated expression of the proline metabolism pathway in T. b. brucei allows this parasite to adapt to the nutritional environment of the tsetse midgut.
Bloodsucking insects play a major role in the transmission of pathogens that cause major tropical diseases. Their capacity to transmit these diseases is directly associated with the availability and turnover of energy sources. Proline is the main readily-mobilizable fuel of the tsetse fly, which is the vector of sub-species of Trypanosoma brucei parasites that cause human sleeping sickness and are partly responsible for animal trypanosomiasis (Nagana disease) in sub-Saharan Africa. Once trypanosomes are ingested from an infected host by the tsetse, the parasites encounter an environment that is poor in glucose (as it is rapidly metabolized by the fly) but rich in proline, which then becomes the main carbon source once the parasite differentiates into the first insect (procyclic) stage. In this work, we provide evidence on the essentiality of T. b. brucei proline catabolism for procyclic survival within the tsetse’s digestive tract, as this organism is unable to synthesize this amino acid and strictly depends on the proline provided by the fly. We also show that parasites deficient in TbP5CDH, a mitochondrial enzyme involved in the proline degradative pathway, failed to proliferate in vitro, showed a diminished respiratory capacity, and showed compromised maintenance of energy levels and metabolic flux when proline was offered as the main carbon source. Thus, the integrity of the trypanosome proline degradation pathway is needed to maintain essential functions related to parasite bioenergetics, replication and infectivity within the insect host. Our observations answer a long-standing question on the role of parasite proline metabolism in tsetse-trypanosome interplay.
Collapse