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Sharma A, Cipriano M, Ferrins L, Hajduk SL, Mensa-Wilmot K. Hypothesis-generating proteome perturbation to identify NEU-4438 and acoziborole modes of action in the African Trypanosome. iScience 2022; 25:105302. [PMID: 36304107 PMCID: PMC9593816 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Revised: 07/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
NEU-4438 is a lead for the development of drugs against Trypanosoma brucei, which causes human African trypanosomiasis. Optimized with phenotypic screening, targets of NEU-4438 are unknown. Herein, we present a cell perturbome workflow that compares NEU-4438's molecular modes of action to those of SCYX-7158 (acoziborole). Following a 6 h perturbation of trypanosomes, NEU-4438 and acoziborole reduced steady-state amounts of 68 and 92 unique proteins, respectively. After analysis of proteomes, hypotheses formulated for modes of action were tested: Acoziborole and NEU-4438 have different modes of action. Whereas NEU-4438 prevented DNA biosynthesis and basal body maturation, acoziborole destabilized CPSF3 and other proteins, inhibited polypeptide translation, and reduced endocytosis of haptoglobin-hemoglobin. These data point to CPSF3-independent modes of action for acoziborole. In case of polypharmacology, the cell-perturbome workflow elucidates modes of action because it is target-agnostic. Finally, the workflow can be used in any cell that is amenable to proteomic and molecular biology experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amrita Sharma
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA
| | - Michael Cipriano
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Lori Ferrins
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Stephen L. Hajduk
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Kojo Mensa-Wilmot
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA,Corresponding author
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Borg Y, Alsford S, Pavlika V, Zaikin A, Nesbeth DN. Synthetic biology tools for engineering Goodwin oscillation in Trypanosoma brucei brucei. Heliyon 2022; 8:e08891. [PMID: 35198764 PMCID: PMC8844716 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Revised: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Kinetoplastid protozoa possess properties that are highly divergent from the mammalian, yeast and bacterial cells more commonly used in synthetic biology and represent a tantalisingly untapped source of bioengineering potential. Trypanosoma brucei brucei (T. b. brucei), an established model organism for studying the Kinetoplastida, is non-pathogenic to humans and provides an interesting test case for establishing synthetic biology in this phylogenetic class. To demonstrate further the tractability of Kinetoplastida to synthetic biology, we sought to construct and demonstrate a Goodwin oscillator, the simplest oscillatory gene network, in T. b. brucei for the first time. We report one completed iteration of the archetypal synthetic biology Design-Build-Test-Learn (DBTL) cycle; firstly, using Ab initio mathematical modelling of the behaviour a theoretical, oscillatory, trypanosomal synthetic gene network (SGN) to inform the design of a plasmid encoding that network. Once assembled, the plasmid was then used to generate a stable transfectant T. b. brucei cell line. To test the performance of the oscillatory SGN, a novel experimental setup was established to capture images of the fluorescent signal from motion-restricted live cells. Data captured were consistent with oscillatory behaviour of the SGN, with cellular fluorescence observed to oscillate with a period of 50 min, with varying amplitude and linear growth trend. This first DBTL cycle establishes a foundation for future cycles in which the SGN design and experimental monitoring setup can be further refined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanika Borg
- The Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Bernard Katz Building, Gordon Street, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.,Department of Mathematics and Institute for Women's Health, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Sam Alsford
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases & Department of Infection Biology, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Vasos Pavlika
- The Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Bernard Katz Building, Gordon Street, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Alexei Zaikin
- Department of Mathematics and Institute for Women's Health, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.,World-Class Research Center "Digital Biodesign and Personalized Healthcare", Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia.,Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
| | - Darren N Nesbeth
- The Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Bernard Katz Building, Gordon Street, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
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Dean S. Basic Biology of Trypanosoma brucei with Reference to the Development of Chemotherapies. Curr Pharm Des 2021; 27:1650-1670. [PMID: 33463458 DOI: 10.2174/1381612827666210119105008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Trypanosoma brucei are protozoan parasites that cause the lethal human disease African sleeping sickness and the economically devastating disease of cattle, Nagana. African sleeping sickness, also known as Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), threatens 65 million people and animal trypanosomiasis makes large areas of farmland unusable. There is no vaccine and licensed therapies against the most severe, late-stage disease are toxic, impractical and ineffective. Trypanosomes are transmitted by tsetse flies, and HAT is therefore predominantly confined to the tsetse fly belt in sub-Saharan Africa. They are exclusively extracellular and they differentiate between at least seven developmental forms that are highly adapted to host and vector niches. In the mammalian (human) host they inhabit the blood, cerebrospinal fluid (late-stage disease), skin, and adipose fat. In the tsetse fly vector they travel from the tsetse midgut to the salivary glands via the ectoperitrophic space and proventriculus. Trypanosomes are evolutionarily divergent compared with most branches of eukaryotic life. Perhaps most famous for their extraordinary mechanisms of monoallelic gene expression and antigenic variation, they have also been investigated because much of their biology is either highly unconventional or extreme. Moreover, in addition to their importance as pathogens, many researchers have been attracted to the field because trypanosomes have some of the most advanced molecular genetic tools and database resources of any model system. The following will cover just some aspects of trypanosome biology and how its divergent biochemistry has been leveraged to develop drugs to treat African sleeping sickness. This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive survey of trypanosome features. Rather, I hope to present trypanosomes as one of the most fascinating and tractable systems to do discovery biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Dean
- Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
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